We will still be / Friends forever

Right before the end of our senior year in high school, Amber, Megan, Emily, Macia (MAY-sha), and I stood in the parking lot of our local movie theater, hugging each other and wiping tears from our eyes. We had just finished watching The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, a movie about four girls whose friendship is tested after they graduate from high school, and the story hit way too close to home. Some of us had been best friends since elementary school and we had all been close since middle school, and in just a few short weeks, we were graduating and leaving behind the close friendship we had experienced in high school – studying for exams at each other’s houses, going swing dancing together every Tuesday night, walking to the local ice cream store during lunch on Fridays, decorating our shared hotel room on school trips, and confiding our dreams and heartbreaks with each other. We had it so good, and we were so sad it was ending.

That was seventeen years ago, nearly half a lifetime ago for all of us now. Fast forward through sleepovers on college breaks, a shared journal that made the rounds through all of our P.O. boxes in our dorms, AOL Instant Message chats, five weddings and seven kids and bridal showers and baby showers that we threw each other, and girls’ weekends in Florida and the Finger Lakes, and we are still hugging each other, still wiping away tears together, still grateful every day that we have it so good.

In fact, today, we are more involved in each other’s lives than I ever thought would be possible given our busy lives and the distance we live from each other. Thanks to Macia’s suggestion at the start of the pandemic that we join Marco Polo* together, we are in touch with each other nearly every day, leaving video voicemails to the group as we drive to work, run errands, or fold laundry. We know all of the details of each other’s lives – when someone’s kid is sick (hint: basically all the time), how someone’s house project is going, the names of each other’s coworkers, and what we’re making for dinner. We are closer now than we have ever been and closer that any of us would have ever dared to hope for seventeen years ago.

This summer, on a road trip back east, Steve and I stopped for a couple days in my home town, and we spent all day Saturday hanging out at Emily’s house, playing on the playground with the kids, and, of course, taking photos of everyone’s families.

Pictured: the love and closeness within everyone’s individual families.

Not pictured: the love and closeness across all of the families as we picked up right where we had left off, our husbands chatted with each other, and everyone’s kids all played together as a new generation of friends.

*Marco Polo is a phone app that lets you leave video or voice messages to another person. The other person can watch your video whenever it’s convenient for them, then reply back to you. You can form a group of people who can see and hear everyone’s messages in the group. The messages are available indefinitely if you are busy and need to catch up later. It means that you can stay in touch without needing to find a time that works for everyone. There’s a free version of the app, or you can upgrade to spend $5 a month to get additional features. I can’t say enough good things!

Amber’s Family

Megan’s Family

Emily’s Family

Macia’s Family

And as our lives change, come whatever
We will still be friends forever