the older i get, the more i appreciate the friends who endure.
who allow you to pick up where you left off.
who think the best of you first, not the worst.
who love you anyway.
i just came back from visiting one i've known since we were 15, when we shared some laugh in biology class. tho neither of us can remember exactly what it was, we knew we'd found a kindred spirit.
we saw each other through trying times -- my broken heart, her housefire.
when it gutted the tiny apartment she shared with her mom, she moved in with us during our junior year.
it was only 6 months, but gave us the chance to live like real sisters and gave her a look at life inside our home, warts and all.
after she moved out, we'd lose touch and reconnect as life pulled us in different directions. each time, we picked up where we left off, no one blaming the other for the lapse, both just grateful for the lines that held us still.
when she got sick last year, our conversations grew more regular. we visited in august and spent a long weekend remembering and laughing and telling each other stories about the life adventures we hadn't shared.
eight months later, we got to celebrate her successful surgery.
cancer didn't take her out, as doctors had suggested it might, but gave her yet another chance to show anyone who didn't already know that she's made of stronger stuff than most.
i haven't even downloaded the photos from this trip, but she's so much on my mind today i had to try to write about her anyway.
all the corny quotes about friendship don't come close. it's not just gratitude for the ways our teenage selves live on in each other's eyes and stories, and the ways my parents live on through her.
it's also a bone-deep reassurance that some of what i thought i knew to be true back then really was.
i'm so grateful that one of the loves i thought would last forever actually did.
