When I was a young girl in Girl Scouts, we used to sing a little song about friends. That song popped into my brain a couple of weeks ago, as I was driving home from spending some time with my life-long friend.
"Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, but the other's gold."
Are new friends a good thing? Absolutely! It's amazing when you're able to find someone you can really connect with. It's exciting to get to know each other as you build that trust and camaraderie over time.
But nothing compares to "old" friends. The friend that you share decades of history and memories with. They are more than just a friend, you consider her family just as much like the one you were born into.
It's the long-time friend that makes you feel safe. She's the one you are always comfortable being silly around. The one you can trust with your feelings.
I am blessed to have a friend like that.
We've known each other our entire lives. She was born just a few weeks after I was. We never attended school together. But we went to the same church and would get together to play when I would visit with my grandparents. She knew me in the awkward middle school years. Through the braces and bad haircuts. In the years when there was no email and we lived states apart and would write actual snail-mail letters and cards to each other to stay in touch.
Even though we still live in different states and haven't seen each other in a few years (thanks Covid), it always feels like no time at all has passed as soon as we're able to get back together. I look forward to hearing all the details of her life that I have missed out on over the months or years. And quickly we are swapping stories and discussing everything from the mundane to the philosophical.
Those "old" friends truly are one of life's great treasures.
