Friends

 Once upon a time...I was not a Mommy.  I was not married.  I was a carefree elementary school student.  Almost carefree.  I had just moved to the Vancouver, WA area and was enjoying my first Sunday in a new Sunday school.  The teacher had invited her entire class over for the afternoon (a generous act she repeated many times over the years) and I was very nervous because I didn't know anyone!  Who would be a friend to me????  Would anyone like me????  The car was full and kids were having to share seat belts...I didn't know what to do.  Then a friendly voice said "You can share my seat!" and I looked over to find bright blue smiling eyes looking at ME. 

 It was the beginning of a very special friendship.  My family only lived in Vancouver for two very short years.  But my very best friends were found in that time.  Amanda and Rosanne became pillars in my life.  After we moved back to Gig Harbor our parents were faithful in shuttling us back and forth. Then when we were old enough we rode the train or drove ourselves to make sure to have frequent visits.  In between visits we wrote 12 page letters--no joke--before email things were so very different.  Phone calls were few and far between and could only be afforded when one of us saved up enough babysitting money to pay our parents for the long distance bill.

 We enjoyed countless trips to Lassen Pines Camp, Bible conferences in Burbank, CA and Walla Walla, WA, Rafting trips down the Deschutes River, Beach Party days on the Oregon Coast and snowboarding get togethers on Mt.  Hood and at Snoqualmie Pass.

 We always planned to marry brothers or friends and live just down the street from one another.  Well, Amanda and Rosanne DID marry brothers.  Imagine that.  They don't, however, live just down the street from one another.  And they both live hours and hours and hours away from me.  Rosanne and I got married just 3 months apart, had our first babies 4 days apart, and our second babies 2 months apart.  We chat on the phone often about our similar Mommy lives.  She is currently expecting Baby #4 and I'm excited to sit back and watch : ) 

 And then Amanda and I were blessed to both have baby girls just 5 months apart 2 years ago.  We declared that they would be BFF's--like it or not! 

 Last weekend when Amanda came to visit her brother and his wife Naomi over at the Diaries of the Happy Sanitarium, Naomi invited my family to come over for dinner.  I knew I would get caught up in conversation and neglect my camera--but I made a promise to myself that I would be sure to take pictures of the new generation of BFF's.  May they have as much love between them as we did.  As much fun together as we did.  May they be bridesmaids in each others weddings just as Amanda and Rosanne and I all were.  And may they be no where near as naughty as we sometimes were : ) 

 Friends!

 What would life be without them?