A DECADE OF CHANGE

Lately I've been going through this thing and I don't know how to explain it. I'm sure you’ve read that a lot on this blog. I seem to discover and re-discover things all the time, and each encounter always feels like a different experience. Sometimes the 2nd or 3rd re-discovery makes life a real pain the rear. But there are those rare times that stunt your busybody world just enough so you can say, “Holy crap. Why am I so damn lucky?”

I’ve been having a lot of those lately. Just recently I celebrated an anniversary that is a true testament to one of those light bulb moments. See, I have these people in my life who I can’t even really call my friends anymore, although that’s how we started.
As high school teenagers, we never felt fearful that we’d be without a date to a dance. Keeping each other as “backups” was more of an honor or an assumed duty, than it ever was an offensive position to be in. As college pre-adults, we encouraged each other to get past the unfamiliar territories of academic probation. In between seeing each other find trouble, solve life issues, graduate, change careers, and fall in and out of love, we have learned to support each other like no one’s business.

In light of supporting each other a certain way, we also grew up and ultimately found life outside the comforts of what we’ve grown so accustomed to. And with this newfound world, we learned we could fight as well as we could support each other…and that’s okay.

These friends of mine and I, we’re like a married couple. We enjoyed the honeymoon period of adolescence and the freedom of college life with mighty exuberance and tenacity, not letting one person, one situation come between what mattered most. But everyone knows that the real marriage happens after that time is up. Here in this world, the real work begins, for better or for worse. After 10 years of what we've been through, I think we’re still game.