I like old and I like new. What about you?   

I have a tendency to start sounding like a badly written Dr. Seuss book about this time of day/night so I think I will quit with that line of writing and spare you the horrible trainwreck that it would be!   Instead I will tell you what I am talking about!

I had the privilege of having one of my oldest and by oldest I really mean longest friends come and see me and spend the night with me last night.  Becky was one of my high school friends way back in the day and granted–she is a couple of years younger than me so she is not all that old but she is one of the best friends ever.  Our friendship has stood the test of time and distance. Becky ended up going to the same university that I did and that was a pretty neat thing to know that I had a friend from “home” there.

The great thing about “old friendships” is that these are the people that know you best. They know you from those days when you were maybe a bit weird.  They know all those secrets that need to stay secrets.  They honor those secrets and will never spill them.  But the really great thing is that they know who you are inside and out and STILL are your friend!  Now that is a great thing.

So when Becky messaged me and said that her daughter had a soccer game in Fort Wayne and could she come spend the night with me I was on board.   But then I started worrying.   The messages were going between us.  I told her that nights were not always quiet here.  Carlton still does a lot of his sleeping during the day and his awake time is when the rest of us are sleeping.  He has an active imagination.  He does a lot of self talk.  He loves the Power Rangers.  There is a lot of activity upstairs and in a 50 year old house it is sometimes loud.  It is just the way that it is right now.  When I told Becky about all of this you know what she said?  “I’m not coming to sleep—I am coming to see you!”  Awww…..what a great friend.

So we were able to catch up. We both stayed up past our bedtimes.  But it was fine.  I had to get up twice to tell Carl to quiet down.  Becky told me that she doesn’t really sleep well the first night she is away from home. Whether or not that is true it was sweet of her to say.  We caught up.  I know you know what I mean when I say it was like no time had passed. We keep in touch during the year but this was an awesome visit where we talked a lot about our families and me—probably way too much just because I am a tad bit lonely here and it is a tad bit stressful right now.  But it was like we picked up from our last conversation.  Fabulous.  That is what is different about the old vs new.

The "old"! (Becky is to the right of me)

The "new" Becky

Becky-please don’t kill me for the picture!  I totally forgot to take a picture before you left so I have the “old” picture and the “new” picture that I stole from your Facebook that I suspect your talented daughter Jessica took!!!  Thanks, Becky, for remembering what friendship is all about.   Do YOU have a friend like this???