Friendship Tidbits

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #30:

Friendship

I have been very blessed in friendship in my life, but I didn't realize it until recent years. I've learned a lot about friendship as I've grown up, and while I'm not going to go into the "lessons" in great detail in this post, I will say that the views I hold of friendship as a 36 year old woman are entirely different from the views I held of friendship as a child, a teenager, and a young adult. 

Scotty & me with our friends 

Chad & Carlie of Game Night fame

Sadly, I have not always been a good friend. I've done some pretty awful stuff to my friends in the past - some of it knowingly and some of it in complete ignorance. The biggest example is my childhood best friend, Michelle. Sometimes I think about some of the ways I treated Michelle over the years, and I'm not sure why she stayed by my side! But I'm so glad she did. I owe her big time. 

Michelle & me in our super cool, custom embroidered, 

biotechnology lab coats in high school. 

Ask us what we learned in biotech... Nothing! 

We copied all our answers off

Diana and Todd.

Michelle & me on our very own log on Splash Mountain

fifteen years later.

Here are a few tidbits about my personal experiences with friendship:

Tidbit #1: I am still close to many of my childhood and high school friends. Michelle and Lynsie, foremost. I have known Michelle since I was about nine (3rd grade), but we realized after we met that we went to the same dance studio when we were really little, so we can technically say we knew each other when we were three (that dance studio happened to be owned by Scotty's aunt - which was an additional fact we learned later. It's a small world after all!) 

I met Lynsie in 7th grade, and we've been friends ever since. I have so many fantastic and hilarious memories with Lynsie! Lynsie has brought so much laughter to my life. I could easily rattle off a dozen memories that would have us both rolling on the floor instantly and another dozen that would have us hiding our faces in pure embarrassment. Lynsie and I have seen the best and the worst of each other. 

Lynsie & me with our snowman missionaries.

Tidbit #2: Michelle and I married step-brothers, so she is also my sister-in-law. So best friends really can grow up and marry brothers! In fact, I have had five sisters-in-law that I went to high school with!  Four have since divorced, but still let it be a lesson to you... you need to be nice to everyone because you never know who your brother might end up marrying!

Tidbit #3: Now that I'm an adult, age is less of a factor in friendship. One of my closest friends is the mother of someone I went to high school with. I find this very amusing - I hang out with Brock Johnson's mom now. And I'm pretty close to Ethan Bateman's mom, too. 

I really appreciate this aspect of adult friendship. I love that I can have close friends who are 20 and close friends who are 60. We can be in completely different phases of life and still be relevant to each other. 

You have to admit... that's cool. 

Me with Christie who is older than me, but only by

five years. When Christie turned 30, I couldn't believe

I had a friend who was so old and mature! Haha!

Tidbit #4: I have a frenemy. 

Yep. It's true. I'm petty enough to have a frenemy. I might even have two...

Tidbit #5: I'm not a naturally friendly person. It takes me a long time to form friendships, and sometimes I think it's a miracle that I have any friends at all! My kids inherited this trait, sadly. They don't make friends quickly or easily. 

Fremenies and social awkwardness aside, I really love my friends! They enrich my life and bring me joy. Sometimes they even laugh at my jokes. I think I'll keep them and maybe even add a few more.