Amazing friends

Ted and I spent this past weekend in South Carolina for the wedding of one of my closest friends from college.  It was a grand affair and I had a blast.  Of the 8 girls I was close with in college, 6 of us were there.  All three of my roomies and then two others.  And we had a blast.  I definitely acted like I thought I was still in college and my liver is paying for it.  Plus I stayed up until 2 am for three nights in a row.  Do I think that I am 21 again?   But that is not the point of the story.

As we were flying home yesterday and generally feeling like poo, I kinda got a little emotional about my friends.  There is certainly something very special about those girls you bond with in college.  At 18, I left  the comfort of my family and the only home I have ever known and moved 10 hours a way to a little place called Lexington, Virginia.  Who knew that I would meet people there who would shape my life and mean so much to me (probably even more than they did while I was there) close to 10 years later.  These girls know me.  They get me.  They accept me.  They love me despite all my faults.  And I love them. 

I don't know what it is about this group of women.  We live across the country from each other - Oregon, North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee - but when we get together the distance doesn't matter.  It is just like it always was.  Of course now there are stories about kids and husbands instead of boyfriends and dates.  We talk potty training and preschool instead of what so-and-so was doing at the party.  But it is all the same.  It is all good.  It always is.

The problem is that we have such a great time together so very seldom.  I have not made it a priority in my life to keep up with them.  I am not good at keeping up.  I never call.  I rarely e-mail.  I sometimes blog.  But I want that to change.  I miss them.  They are a huge part of me.  And I love that part of me.