Friday Friends

A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words

These two photos in particular are a representation of 20 years worth of life and words! So very much can happen in 20 years, and believe me it has!

This last Saturday I had a jewelry party to launch the beginning of a fun new business I'm starting. As I was making the list of people to invite I was realizing how long it had been since I had seen a lot of the people I have in my Facebook list. I invited as many as I thought might be interested in jewelry and created an event.

As I was compiling my invitation list, I started thinking about how friendships change as years go by. I remembered vividly, as the mom of small children, that desperate craving for contact with adults. A longing for conversation with grown-ups who didn't need to be reminded to go potty, or who would let you say their name 5 times before they even looked up at you, you know, people who actually listened to what I had to say and had something to say back. 

In those days I needed reassurance that my needs as a mom were acceptable and still worth pursuing, like: being able to shower alone without feeling guilty, or not having every tube of chapstick/lipstick I owned broken off at the base(!), or having a date night with my husband more than once a year.

In those early days we young mothers gravitated toward one another just like our children did. We could easily recognize the hunger for friendship and camaraderie as we smiled over our children's wispy heads of hair and adjusted our over-sized diaper bags that were perpetually full to overflowing.

The photo at the top represents that season of life for me. We four women happened to be in the same place, at the same time, doing the same things. We formed a little group that we affectionately began to call the 'Friday Friends'. 

On Friday mornings we would all get together at one of our homes. We would  get everyone settled and when the kids began to play we would proceed to talk as much as we possibly could about everything we possibly could. It was fabulous!

Then we would feed our kids, always a big undertaking, and try to milk as much out of the rest of the afternoon until we could postpone their naps no longer. (ie; major meltdowns commencing among the little folk.)

I didn't realize it when it was happening, but those were the moments that we will remember forever. As our kids started growing up, each family had it's own choices to make. Some hard, some simple. But not everything can stay the same forever. The times we met got fewer and different seasons of life ensued for all of us.

I realize now that over time our needs change and so friendships change too. Even those we have with the same people. I go out and have lunches now and my need for conversation doesn't feel quite so desperate. My problems aren't the same either. For example, I get to date my husband WAY more often now and nobody breaks off my lipstick. Sometimes though, things are so much more complex that I occasionally reminisce and romanticize the days of the simplicity of just making sure my kids are alive and fed at the end of the day. ;)

Fast-Forward to my jewelry party the other day...unexpectedly the Friday Friends mommies all ended up in my living-room, together for the first time in about 15 years! It was like a ripple of excitement went through us, pulling us all together, just like those early days. We had shared so much in common all of those years ago. Four mommies just wanting the very, very best for our precious children and that has never changed.

Now, in the picture at the bottom, here we are with kids in college, kids in their own apartments, little kids that came later...so many changes and things to catch up on. But as we sat in my little living-room time rolled back and we were in the same place, at the same time, doing the same thing...again.

Now we have a Facebook Friends group...and I can't wait to catch up more!