Life is... Glamorous and Fabulous!: Seasons...

Facebook is a funny thing. It is so cool because it allows you to reconnect with old friends, but it's also pretty crazy that way too. The last few days I have been thinking about old friendships and current friendships and I have realized how truly blessed I have been. It's so crazy for me to think of my best friends who have been by my side through a lot of my life experiences, but also those dear friends who have come in for only a season.

There have been times when I've wondered how, or why a friendship changed, but I've always understood the growing and changing of our personal lives which just led to different hobbies or interests. It didn't mean we stopped liking each other, it just meant our activities changed and we possibly found friends with more like interests. I have also had friendships change because of geographical location. I grew up in the same town from birth until the 6th grade. My dad got transferred and we moved 45 miles away. I'm sure I was more dramatic than I needed to be, but I thought my life was O-V-E-R! I had a fabulous going away swim party which was co-ed. It was SO cool and I couldn't even believe I was leaving all of my best friends for ever and ever. Well, not so much....unfortunately, being in the sixth grade, when your family moves you're pretty much gone. It's not like you can hop in the car on the weekends and re-connect with your buddies. We didn't have cell phones, or e-mail, or facebook....just the US Postal service and after a while the letters stopped.

Then, we moved again when I was in the 8th grade. That one was hard. We packed up and moved to Oklahoma. This was a big move for my family. For the first time we were hours away from family and the friends my parent's had grown up with all their lives. I was in a new city trying to make new friends for the 3rd time. The good news...I did make friends and we stayed there through my high school graduation. I have wonderful memories from high school and to this day I can't get a Sonic lemon-berry slush without thinking of Leah and high school baseball games! I think of French class and think of the day that guy game in after smoking pot at lunch and Ashley and I had no idea what that smell was!! We were gagging and whispering and someone finally told us that he was pretty high on life! I remember thinking that as Seniors in high school we probably should have known that and not made such a spectacle.....what can I say?? We were a little naive! (And I'm totally ok with that!)

Not 2 weeks after I graduated our house was packed up and we were moving back to the Lone Star State! I can't say I was sad about the move because I'm a true Texas girl through and through, but what I was sad about was the fact that my friends went to college together and came home on holidays and long weekends to hang out together. It was my choice to come back "home", but my family's new "home" was not where I had grown up.

On to college.....I started my freshman year thinking I would only be there for one year and then transfer to the University of Texas! I didn't get in to UT being an "out of state student" (Thank you top 10% rule....UGH!) so I went to A&M with the intent that I wouldn't get too close to anyone because I would be out of there in a year. Boy was I wrong! I made the best of friends in the fall of 1999 and I decided that although I still bleed orange, that is right where God wanted me.

I have stories that truly bring me to tears if I sit and re-live it because I can laugh so hard, but even then, it's so weird for me to think that although the majority of them are still my trusted inner circle, there are a few that are no longer among my call list. It's hard to imagine that things can happen and life can take you in a different direction of some that you though would be around for the long haul. Sure, there are a few that I keep in touch with and know what is going on their life, but there are others that are truly just a part of my past. That can be very sad at times, but I know that God brought them in for a season, and it was truly a season of blessing.

Then, there is the tried and true. Those that have made me laugh, made me cry, held my hair, told me when my outfit might be getting a "bit snug", sat with me while I cried and cried because the boy I totally thought I "loved" had broken my heart and they told me I was "SOOOO too good for him!!", they were the first people I called when I really did meet the one my heart loves, stood by me on my wedding day, cried with me and rallied around my family when my mom was sick, and have walked by my side every day since then in ever sense of the word. These are the few....my inner circle. Those whom God has blessed me with and I thank Him for them everyday.