Friends That Last

I've said it so many times and I'll say it again:  I have been blessed with the best of friends!

After spending time with my family, I always make an effort to visit old friends when I come to Oklahoma.  It is always fun and often therapeutic.  They make me laugh, make me feel young again, they teach me things, and they have my back.

I grew up with Jolayne while attending church.  She has always been closer to April than me but I often get to see her when she comes to visit April.  She also seems to visit when I do, which works out perfectly for me because then I can say hi and even sometimes goof around.  On this get together we did a lot of teasing and April gave us matching hair-do's.

One of my favorite things to do is our dinner get together with some of the class of 1996 of Jay, Oklahoma!  Sometimes we don't get to get a lot of one on one talking because of the amount of people that show up but there is always laughter.  This time, in particular, I was so grateful for a few friends that stayed late to help me through the ups and downs of this visit to Oklahoma.  It's hard to explain how a trip here could be so wonderful yet sombering at the same time.  My number one priority for this trip was to be here for Grandma, but she was so much worse than I had expected.  There has been such a decline in her health that it saddened me yet uplifted me at other times as I was counseled by friends who have been through heartache and death of loved ones themselves.  This night, as a few of these friends stayed later than the rest, they gave me some of the best advice I have gotten so far concerning my Grandma.  And I really feel at peace now.

Valerie and Shawn came to visit so we used the opportunity for David and I to go on a double date with them. 

To say that Shawn and Valerie had us rolling in laughter at times is an understatement!

But before Valerie had my stomach and sides hurting from laughter, she was so kind with me as she made sure that she first let me talk about my Grandma.  I have been blessed with many friends but this girl here is a part of a really small group of girl friends that I consider my BEST friends.  I know there is nothing I can do to help my Grandma but just being able to talk about her was therapeutic in a way...and then came the laughter that I needed to "fill up my cup" to keep me going as I made yet another trip to the hospital to be with Grandpa and Grandma (which, I should mention the trooper my Grandpa has been through all of this.  His hope doesn't waiver.)

I went to church with Jasia years ago and though she is so much younger than me, well, I still consider her my friend.  It's hard to explain when you meet someone as sweet, kind, physically beautiful, and thoughtful as Jasia.  Her wedding reception was today and with us being back in Oklahoma, David and I were able to attend.  I feel like I have been constantly on the go, while here, but there was no way that I was going to miss supporting this amazing girl.

 Laura is my oldest friend that will forever be my best friend outside of my husband and sister, April.  I love her so very much and feel it a great privilege to be a friend to someone who not only loves me too but is such a good example to me.  That's funny because she has told me for so long that "I saved her" growing up.  That I was such a good example to her.  But she doesn't realize that I was so attracted to people like her and Valerie because they were what I wanted to be: brave and one who would stand up for themselves.  I was never good at that.  And here I am all these years later and I still wish I could be like her in many other ways like how smart she is, how great she is at giving good advice, and always there to give me medical lessons when I'm stumped (which has been a lot lately with trying to understand what is going on with Grandma).

And I'll just end it on this picture to show that some things never change!  I guarantee you that somewhere out there is a picture of 2 teenage girls that look a whole lot these 2 ladies, some 20+ years ago.  Yep, some things never change!