Sep 15th - One is Silver and the Other Gold....

Remember that old song: "Make new friends, but keep the old...one is silver, and the other gold"? For some reason that came to me this AM as I was sitting down at my computer to work and got a text from my best friend in the whole world. Unfortunately, we don't live close - I am in Upstate NY and she is in Denver, Colorado. We don't get to see each other every year and we don't really talk on the phone much. Nowadays, it is mostly a text message here or there to catch up or let each other know that we are thinking of the other, or something made us laugh and we wanted to share it, or our kids just did the cutest thing in the whole world and had to tell someone about it! You know the kind of friend that it....there for it all even when the real world is running past you at a million miles a minute.

As my daughter started school again just last week in 3rd grade, we had many conversations about this very thing - new friends and keeping the old. Like many other kids this time of year is rough. New routines, new friends, new classrooms and for many a new school or even a new bus route. She wondered if her best friends would still be there and if they would still be together for lunch and recess even though they were in different classes and may be riding different buses. Well...we are on Day 5 today, and she has reconnected with some friends that she has met in other classes, and has had a great time with some new friends. And, at the end of each day, her closest friends are still there. They share recess time, and one actually got on the same school bus. They talk and giggle and have fun at recess too. The worry that they would somehow fade away if they weren't in the same class is starting to subside and they are each learning to grow independently but still come back together at the end of the day.

So, make new friends every day. You never know when that silver one will become your most trusted friend and turn to gold.

Share a laugh with a friend today and reconnect with your most trusted confidants. I've promised myself that I would take time this weekend to write my friend a real letter. You remember that "snail mail" stuff. The excitement you feel when you go to the mailbox and you find a true letter or card and not just junk mail. You settle into a comfy chair and read and catch up and smile. We may be thousands of miles away, but never far in spirit!