I am lucky to have the friends I have; they are my guiding lights. I don’t think that I thank them enough for all the goodness and joy they bring to me. We have known each other since grammer school, and all these years later, we are still friends. During our lives we have moved out of state, but kept in touch. We may have husbands and children, but we still keep in touch. We can laugh together about going to school, graduating and moving to different states.

When one of us lost a parent, a sister, a brother, a pet; we grieved for them. When something wonderful came into their lives, we celebrated. When we moved into new houses, we congratulated each other. When one of us became sick or had a medical crisis, we prayed for them and held our breath until they were better.

We still laugh at the same corny jokes and sayings we said from the time we told them first in grade school. We still roll our eyes remembering our own goofy mistakes. We still love playing the “remember when?” of it all.

Don’t get me wrong; I love and adore my husband, the Crankee Yankee; he is my rock. But there is something more precious than gold to have the good friends we grew up with. We have seen each other through good times and bad. We have comforted each other during the crises in our lives. We have laughed uncontrollably together; we have cried uncontrollably together.

As we get older, we understand better how our friends tick. We have stopped worrying about being right (I am still ashamed of all the times I just HAD to be right about everything) all the time; we have finally learned to listen and comfort each other. Our friends have taught us to be the most authentic people we can be.

Real friends are those who can forgive us when we are being real jerks (I have been a real jerk many times) and still keep on being friends. The older we get, the more we treasure our friends.

I can’t imagine my life without the wonderful friends I have today. And if you are reading this, please know that love and appreciate you more than I can say. Thank you for putting up with me.