Happy Birthday to A Beautiful Friend!

I have discovered a whole new meaning of the idea of "old."

If you have a lifelong friend, think about the amount of time he or she has been in your life.  For me, I'm just on the other side of thirty. 

And my closest friend whom I've known the longest is celebrating her 32nd birthday today.  Cheers, Kristin! 

So, considering the average lifespan, we're still relatively young.  Or at least, that's how I feel.

But then I realized... having met on the playground in second grade:

We have been friends for TWENTY FIVE YEARS.

That's over twice as long as most of my students have been alive.

It's a quarter century.  Our friendship is the same age as someone who has been legally allowed to drink for the past four years.

If our friendship was an automobile operator, it would now be eligible for cheaper insurance.

As old as this makes me feel, I wouldn't change it for anything.  If you are lucky enough to have a friendship like this one, you understand it's like a favorite pair of jeans.  You can go weeks or even months without any in-depth contact, but the moment you slip back in, it's a perfect fit.  We don't have to talk every day to get right back into the real stuff when we see each other.  Kristin has always been there for me.  We've laughed and cried together.  We remained friends not only throughout grade school through graduation, but went to college together, too, living as roommates for our freshman and sophomore years.

It's hard to believe that it's been ten years since our college graduation.

It's all been said before.  Time flies.  Time waits for no man.  There's nothing new or profound I could write to capture it any better than the millions of writers, artists, and others who have already done it before me.

But if you haven't considered lately, take a moment and do so:

Are you treasuring the gift that is your time?

It's so easy to forget that it's a present-- in the midst of hectic work weeks, looming deadlines, jam packed schedules.  I am guilty of trying to merely "make it through" a day or a week or even a month, looking forward to the next Saturday or the next special occasion or the next anything.  But the truth is, doing that is the same as wishing your life away.

Instead of trying to make it through, we should be trying to make the most of every moment.

Because tomorrows aren't guaranteed.  Nothing is certain in this life, and very few things are forever.

Thanks for being a forever friend, Kris.  I love you.

 

Kristin and I, 1999.  From our junior year in high school, courtesy of the IRHS yearbook.

 

 

                                                   And our most recent girl's night.  2013. 

13 Kaliahisms for 2013

Kaliahism:  Noun.  (Kuh-LEE-uh-ism).  Saying produced by Kaliah Rose McFadden, daughter of Jenny Lynn Meister and Rashieme Lamar McFadden.

As we bid goodbye to 2013, take a few moments to view the year through the eyes of an eight-year-old.  The following Kaliahisms are actual sayings as uttered by Kaliah throughout the year 2013, as closely directly quoted as my overcrowded memory allows.  Here are 13 of them for 2013.

1.  "I have a Mario head, Mom.  You have a Luigi head."
2.  "Back in the 1950s, did the world used to be in black and white?"
3.  "Mom... why did you sleep in that?
     "I didn't.  This is what I'm wearing to work today.  It's 80's day."
     "That's not 80's.  It's just crazy."
4.   "It is 80's.  This is how people used to dress back then."
     "YOU were in the 80s???"
5.  "Pull over, Mom!  We have GOT to pick that dandelion!"
6.  "You could probably win a potato chip eating contest, Mom."
7.  "I might want to be a farmer when I grow up."
     "We don't have a farm, Kaliah."
     "So?"
8.  "Kaliah, do you understand this cartoon?"
     (Cartoon features the caption 'Punctuation saves lives.' Family is surrounding Grandma, and there are two examples given:  "Let's eat, Grandma!" and "Let's eat Grandma!"
     "Yes, when you move the comma, they're not telling grandma to eat... they're saying they'll eat Grandma!"
9.   "I know how to swim.  I just can't do it, yet."
10.  While "Sexy and I Know It" is on the radio.  The line that goes, "There's a passion in my pants and I'm not afraid to show it..."
     "Mom, what does fashion in his pants mean?  Does that mean he's wearing really pretty underwear?"
     "That's exactly what it means, Kaliah."  (Changing the channel quick, fast and in a hurry).
11.  "Remember when you got the parking ticket and started crying, Mom?"
12.  "Uncle Billy can drive?"
      "Yes, we bought our car from him."
       "Huh.  I never knew he made it that far in life."
13.  "I'm good at gymnastics because I'm so stretchable."

As we close out the year, I thank God for my smart, sweet, funny little girl.  I thank Him for all of my other blessings, including another year spent with the love of my life, the joy of spending time with family, the roof over our heads, the job I have, the dreams I work toward.  I pray that you and your family will be blessed tremendously in 2014, and I thank you, as always, for taking the time to read!