Lovely memories...

The other night, a friend and I were talking and he brought up the idea of "summer time friendships"...which reminded me of a blog I posted two years ago on myspace. I'm re-posting it on here, because it's something that I think about often...especially with the Air Force Base being here in Altus. Anyway...if you'd like to read the original blog, here's the link. You might even find a comment written by you at the end of it...

So...last night I spent a large amount of my time searching my house for the cords to my printer. About two years ago, I put them somewhere. At that moment I thought it was a good spot- a spot where I would be able to find them when I wanted to use them again. I was wrong. It must have been a bad spot, because I can't find them.

So, during my futile cord search, I ran across a bag of notes/letters/cards from my school days. I actually knew it was there, but I never take the time to go through it. All of the sudden I thought it would be just the time to read the hundreds of little notes that I've had packed away for all these years...lol. I found a couple of notes and cards from this guy that had a huge crush on me in 7th grade (whatever happened to him...?), and I found a couple of notes from a boy that I loved in 9th/10th grade (I still love him, actually...and talk to him occasionally). Chances are, if you ever went to camp with me---at any point in my life--I have a note from you. Very possibly more than one (remember having "mail boxes" at camp and getting prayer grams?) I have notes from people that I don't even remember (shame on me for forgetting!) Most of the notes say "I love you"...and I know that a lot of those people wouldn't say that to me now...lol. (Being caught up in the "camp experience" makes you love everyone!) So many of the notes say things such as "friends forever", or some similar endearing phrase. When you are in that moment, reading those little loving notes, you have no reason to question that you will, in fact, be friends forever. You somehow believe that it is true. Call it a childish thought or whatever...but you do. It makes me a little sad to think about how easily those "forever" friendships dissolve. I mean, I don't know where even half of the authors of those little notes are now.

It is interesting how people move into your life for some period of time...spend time loving you and knowing you...then just slip out, leaving little pieces of themselves and taking little pieces of you. Then in the present, you run into them at Wal-mart or some such place, and no matter how close you were in the past, it almost seems like you are strangers now. It's just part of life...a sad but somehow necessary part.

Then there are friends that remain...not many, but a few. I read a card from one of those friends today...sweet. It was from my 16th birthday. She said something like "we have been friends for 4 years. Can you believe it's already been 4 years?!" Little did we know at the time that 4 years would turn into 14...and it makes me wonder how our relationship will be in 10 more years.

Makes me want to cherish the time that I have with people...because if (or more truthfully "when") they slip away, and our lives take different forks, the lovely memories will remain...