Where It Happens.

 

The invitation arrives in the mail and there isn’t even a question. I’ll go, even if it means what it ended up meaning this time. An 8 hour bus trip each way. Yes, because that’s what friends do. This is where life happens.

I’ve made my share of fatal friendship mistakes. I’ve said the wrong thing that I’ve just had to get off my chest; I’ve had my feelings squashed. I am no perfect friend.

It seems the older I get though the more I realize what it takes and what friends really do.

We show up. With a coffee or a margarita, maybe even Junior Mints depending on the day.

Life happens while we gather in one anothers homes, or the McD's playland and our kids run amok and we start twelve seperate conversations that have to wait for a girls night out to finish.

We cheer each other on as we reach for goals and when it feels like the worlds up against us, we listen.

We remind each other of crazier days but admire where we’re at right now.

When the phone call comes in, they board planes from wherever they are around the country and stand with you as you say goodbye to your mother. Even if it’s the week before Christmas.

We take each other’s kids when we’ve exhausted every option and we’ve just got to do this and even though they’re busy with our own kids and our own things they’ve just got to do, they do it.

We see each other for everything we are, even when we ourselves don’t see it.

Friendships change and evolve, even when we say they won't. Distance and other relationships, family and jobs put a strain that adds a gap of years between the visits.

But somehow when it comes down to it, you know you’ve got friends simply because they’ve got your back and you’ve got theirs. And that is where it happens.

While this is written for and about many of my friends, it's inspired by a weekend away with old friends and returning to new-er friends.