Ten Years Later

Recently I traveled to Atlanta for my best friend's bridal shower (post to come eventually) and was reunited with a couple of other closest friends from my college years. I am connected to several girls from college, mainy through "friendships" on Facebook, but the girls at this party are ones that call, email, swap pictures, but just never get to see. As I uploaded the pictures from the shower, one of my favorites was this snapshot of me and my two roommates from back in the day:

As I was looking at it, a picture in a frame that sits on my desk caught my eye... one of my very favorites from nine or ten years ago:

I know I just dated myself, BUT... seeing this picture next to that picture made me realize just how special life-long friends can be. So much has changed in these last few years- marriages, children, careers, and many ups and downs and bumps in the road, but if anything, it's just gotten better and better. I also had to laugh at myself when I realized how even though we may be a bit more fresh faced in the second photo, we still look pretty dang good for being in our thirties! When we were that age I think we probably thought that thirty was old, and it was all downhill from there, but I think we've proven our old selves wrong. Sure, when I look in the mirror these days my eyes immediately see the wrinkles that are more obvious to me than anyone else, as well as other "signs" of aging, but I think sometimes I focus on those too much. At the end of the day, it's those smiles on our faces, the joy in our lives, and the testament of how far we've all come that matters. I think the "older" girls would unanimously say that we're happier now, more at peace, more sure of who we are and what we stand for, more confident, and more beautiful than ever. I praise God for frienships like this... not just for the memories, the good times, and the person you can always count on, but also as a benchmark as to where we've been, who we are today, and how much potential we still have for what's to come. In ten more years, I would not be surprised if I have yet another picture to post of us three, that one more beautiful than the last two.  Friendships are definitely one of God's most precious gifts.