Lifelong Friends

Twice in a month we have had out-of-town visitors. Living near D-land does have its advantages; you'll never be short of visitors! Both times, dear friends of ours squeezed a visit to my family into their family's vacation. This made me ponder on the friendships that endure time and distance. No matter where our family members move to, we will see them again sooner or later, at weddings, funerals, family reunions, etc. But it takes a real friendship to reconnect after moving across the country. Take my friend A. We first met when we were assigned the same shift at the candy store on our college campus. That must have been in 1994! I think we became friends immediately. We supported each other through boyfriend woes (mostly mine, her heart was always set on J) and final exams. We attended each others weddings, our first dd's are just a few months apart. She moved to CA after graduation, and after 9 years I did too! But then she moved to CO. Until last week I hadn't seen her and her family for 2 years. They spent 4 hours at our house and we were all sad when they had to leave. (They had to get up early the next morning to see Mickey of course.) There is something valuable and rare about two families whose members can all be friends. The kids, the dh's, the dw's. We just match up well. These are the people who will never be crossed off my Christmas card list no matter how many years in a row they fail to send me a card. These are the people whose kids I hope will be my kid's college roommates. I feel I am blessed to have so many of these types of friends in my life. Unfortunately, none of them live near me anymore. D and H from AZ now TX. M and J from AZ now NM. L and S from NJ now ID. J and A from NJ now UT. E and G from UT now WA. B and G from UT now ID. Maybe that's the problem. My friends move too much!