When I was a Girl Scout way back when (yes, I was a Girl Scout!)…. there was a song that we learned to sing in rounds when we went on overnight camp outs which was, “Make new friends but keep the old one is silver but the other is gold”.  It’s a good thought to keep in mind especially if you’re extroverted and meeting new people all the time.  One of the positive things about getting older is that if you play your cards right and you’re lucky, you’ll have quite a few friends who you’ve known over many years and who you’ve weathered and enjoyed many experiences with during that time.  Course that also means that they have a lot that they can hold over your head…. but that’s another blog entirely!

Today one of my “gold” friends got married for the first (and only!) time at the ripe young age of 50 plus!  I’ve known Jeri since I was 17 when I met her when I came to live with Jeri’s sister and her Dad the summer after we graduated out of high school.  Jeri was the “big little sister” back then. Big because she was 5 years older than us and little because she was shorter and skinnier than us too!  First of all, you have to know that the boarding school that Jeri’s sister, Janice, and I had just graduated from was very conservative and many of the kids came from families with lots of money. Janice and I were used to getting up every morning for school and dressing to kill with hair, make-up and clothes perfect — just for school!  Then came the summer after we graduated.  I spent half of the summer as a Girl Scout Camp Counselor in Utopia, Texas but left mid-way through due to a rotten case of poison ivy (well, that and I really missed my boyfriend and friends!).  I don’t remember quite how we convinced my parents that it made good sense for me to go live with Janice and her Dad, but somehow they let me and so it was off to Houston.  Jeri and Janice’s Dad had actually been a rocket scientist and had just begun what would become a very successful t-shirt printing business.  I wanted to give you this context for when I tell you about meeting Jeri for the first time.  You have to understand that both Jeri and Janice (and their other sister Judy) were, well, I guess it wouldn’t be putting it too lightly to say that they were wild girls and hilarious.  I don’t think Jeri had been home for a while because she was living with her boyfriend out of a truck that they had made into camper that fit on the back bed.  Jeri’s boyfriend was a musician in a popular band and so she was usually off traveling with the band.  Anyway, I just remember her being so funny and that she sounded so much like Janice. It was my mission to get them both talking at the same time and laughing that same great laugh.

It had become a weekend routine for Janice and I to “borrow” her Dad’s El Dorado Convertible Cadillac and drive down to the Galveston Yacht Club to sleep on the Yacht and party during the days.   Jeri decided to join us one weekend so I will forever remember her image from then in this way, John Lennon round shaped lenses held together with baggie ties because her frames had broken and a bathing suit bottom on top of her head to keep her hair from blowing everywhere as we drove with the top down.  I knew this girl had to become my friend with that kind of chutzpah!

And of course Jeri and her husband, Perry, would want to get married on 10/10/10.  David and I took off in the early afternoon and drove up to Castell, Texas, which is a nice, little, little town (village?) tucked away near the Llano River.  Turns out that one of my very good friends, Vicki, that I made in Austin about 20 years ago is married to a man, Steven, who is one of Jeri’s oldest and best guy friends.  It was fun to get to visit with them at the outdoor chapel and then watch Jeri get married and visit with Janice and her husband Roger afterward.  It’s funny to think that Vicki is one of my newer friends at 20 years but when you think that I’ve known Jeri and Janice since I was 16, well let’s just say they are indeed “golden”.

Do people change over the years? Oh sure they do, you have haven’t you?  Do you “keep” all the friends you’ve ever made? No, sometimes we just naturally evolve away from each other.  It’s equally as important to appreciate both kinds of friendships from the ones who “knew you when” and the ones who “know you now”.  Friends can be our markers for who we were and how much we have grown in addition to all the other gifts that we get from our friendships.

Who are your friends today? Do you have friends that you’ve known a long time as well as some good new ones that you’ve made along the way?