Nearly Two Hundered Years of Friendship

I have great friends. I know because they've put up with me for a VERY long time. When people make friends with me, they better mean it. I'm pretty difficult to shake. These photos prove it. Over the past three weekends, I've been blessed to spend time with some of my oldest and dearest friends.

On this past Sunday I spent 3 hours catching up with my high school English/Speech/Drama teacher, Mrs. Koch. My BFF, Anita was in town so we could go to The Decembrists concert in Omaha that night. Since she was heading this way minus the kids (thank you Art!) she wanted to try and arrange a get-together with the teacher we both have credited with keeping us sane in high school. Anita, Kjell (who I’ve been friends with since we were 4) and Mrs. Koch (I can't call her Patsy. It feels weird!) sat at a restaurant for over 3 hours catching up. Anita and I hadn't seen her since we graduated 20 years ago (make that 21, ahem!), but we laughed and talked like it was yesterday. It was so great.

Three days prior to that I met my friend Liz, whom I met in college, for dinner. I hadn't seen her in several months, but it's like no time has passed. She is always up to something great and is very creative. (check out the link to her purse site on ETSY.com on the right). We then went to The Bookworm to attend our mutual friend's book launch. Rainbow has been writing ever since I’ve met her - either for the Daily Nebraskan on campus, the Omaha World Herald or copy for an Omaha ad agency. She's been brilliant at all of those, so it's no surprise that when we arrived to her book launch an hour after it had began, all of her books were sold out ("Attachments" by Rainbow Rowell) - and had been for nearly an hour! I've since picked up a copy, and am enjoying it so much. It's fun to read something by someone you know so well. I have all this context that others won't. It adds to the fun of it being a great read in itself. It makes me realize that there really is no such thing as pure fiction. At her book launch we took a photo together of all of us who lived together in Pound Hall at UNL Melissa, Liz, Rainbow and me. We ate a LOT of pizza together, listened to Liz Fair records, cried over boyfriends and did some studying, and lots of laughing. Then two weekends ago I met with my "book club" - which I have to say in quotes, because we did start off reading the same book, but have since given that up to just getting together. We talk about books, but not all the same one, which I personally think it better. These women are my delight. We all met in college, but didn't really get to become close friends until we were well out of college and starting our own homes and families.

So these three photos represent over 160 total years of friendship. How did I get so lucky to have such talented, beautiful people in my life, and for so LONG? All I can say is it's one of my life's biggest blessings.