The late 80′s were great years for me. I had finally mastered the English language and made some amazing friends I hold dear to this day. This is the time when I met Heather. She was this fun, petite blonde that rocked my world! Our backgrounds and family history were different, but we bonded over Jr. High School and Wednesday night youth group. Those years were a blast, summer/winter/anytime camps were so much fun and I have nothing but the fondest memories of my early teenage years.

The last summer of the 80′s into 1990 is when our friendship thrived. We would hop on our bikes on Saturday mornings and just go wherever the road would take us, it was a nice little taste of freedom before we got our licenses. We had to have our weekend break from bike riding when we reached Thrifty. One scoop of chocolate brownie ice cream for $0.25… yup, you read that right… 25 CENTS!!! Best scoop of ice cream there ever was.

1990 was our last year of school together. Choir, more camps and then our lives took separate paths but we were able to remain close… closer at times not so much other times. Then came her wedding and her beautiful children. Years later she was the Matron of Honor at my wedding while her oldest daughter was my flower girl. And many, many years later came my babies. We’ve experienced the ups and downs in each other’s lives and have been able to maintain the love that holds our friendship.

As the years go by it gets harder and harder to get together often. Between work, home and keeping up with the kids, it doesn’t happen very often. The last time we got together was two years ago until this past weekend. I was going to be in the area and had to make my way to her, and it dawned on us, that we had never been together with all our kids at the same time. It was a short visit full of long hugs and kind words and a photo session, of course.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. I know I am thankful for great, long lasting friendships.