Lessons Learned as a Brownie

Make new friends
But keep the old.
One is silver 
And the other's gold.

When you are a 5-year-old little girl singing this song with your Brownie troop, it's hard to understand the concept of "old friends."

However, when you are a 30-something and have lived literally all over the Western Hemisphere, the lesson really starts to sink in.

All of my old friends were once new friends.

And I sincerely hope my new friends will stick with me long enough to make that slow slide into the "old friends" category. Those folks who know your history and, although they may not have been a part of your day-to-day for the last howevermany years (apart from facebook status updates and uploaded photos), when you sit down to talk with them or get a phone call, it is as if no time has passed at all. There is catching up to do on the particulars, but the friendship has been able to traverse any gaps in time or space effortlessly. These are the people who understand your heart and soul, who have stood the test of time, whose relationship with you has mellowed like a good red wine.

This is not to undervalue the new friends, though. These are the people who walk beside you in the here and now. Your colleagues, your fellow soccer moms, your church family. You may not share a history with these folks, but you share a present, and their influence and inspiration will help to shape your future.

I feel incredibly blessed to have old friends spread all across the globe. If you happen to be reading this, know I love and cherish you...even when I allow life to get in the way of keeping in touch. I am doubly blessed to be living where I am now, where I have both old and new friends.

I get to have the best of the "silver" and the "gold" nearby.

I have some coffee on (always). Come sit on my front porch with me.