Silver and Gold

In my younger days, I was a brownie and a girl scout. I remember well learning and singing a friendship song during those scout meetings:

Make new friends, but keep the old,

One is silver and the other gold.

This weekend, I had the true joy of reconnecting face-to-face with one of my oldest friends. I hopped on the Megabus, traveled up to Chicago, and spent a very short and fast 24 hours with her before heading back home to the Sunday responsibilities that awaited me. The bus ride was fun, but the visit was amazing. Simply put, there are some people who come into your lives and you become fast friends. Over time, the friendship grows closer and deeper. Over more time, chances are, you lose touch -- for no real reason other than life is just like that. Thankfully, reconnections happen. For a very few folks, reconnecting is about more than just catching up with what has happened over the years -- it's about picking up where you left off with the trust, the love, and the joy that you originally experienced with that friendship. I have had the true blessing of experiencing this kind of reconnection with this dear friend I haven't seen in 19 years. NINETEEN years. Do you know how much happens in 19 years?? A lifetime of events. And as much as we had each changed, and experienced very different things in life, we are each the same. I have said it before, and I say it now... it is well with my soul!

So yeah, make new friends, and take the time to really form a relationship, for one can never have too many true friends. But DO keep the old. For they just make the treasure of friendship even richer.