Meet Kimmie. We’ve known one another since the 7th grade, though we didn’t become close until graduate school (her for Counseling, me for Social Work at Florida State).
Back in those days, you could not find two sillier girls/women (I say that because we were still very much girls on our way into womanhood). We had so many inside jokes, our own language, and I don’t think I’ve ever been more girlie or ridiculous with anyone in my life, ever.
And now we’re twenty full years from those graduate school days. We’re wives, mothers, living on different sides of the USA. Honestly, it’s been hard to stay in touch.
Lately, Kimmie has made a point to come to Oregon (this was her 2nd annual visit), to visit me and our mutual friend Joyce (who is one of Kimmie’s other childhood besties). As it does with old friends, it feels like no time has passed. The silly comes out. The giggles. The ridiculousness. But also the true and the hard of what it’s been like to be an adult out in the world when we know so much of one another from being children and young adults.
There is something about old friends that feels like home. There just aren’t that many people who hold our memories for us, who have been where we’ve been, and understand the places from which we grew.
It’s a honor to walk that long journey with one another. Even when there are long silent pauses along the way. Even when our lives have taken us in different directions. Even when our kids don’t know one another.
And so it is. Kimmie left to go home back to Florida today. She will be evacuating her home tomorrow due to the hurricane. I sent her off with lots of love and wishes for safety. And I will look forward to her trip out West next year.
Here’s to growing up with our friends. May they always hold the divide between then and now. And may we honor those paths walked in the spirit of togetherness, always.
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