Make new friends, keep the old. One is silver, the other is gold.
I found this photo peaking out of a box in our garage. Three old friends brought together by the love of Delta Gamma at Mississippi State University. The year was 1997...
My friend on the left, Rebecca, was a beautiful, talented dancer for the MSU Pom Squad. Each year when we competed for Sigma Chi Derby Day, she coordinated a killer dance for our girls - this was her talent, and she was great at it! She was tall, athletic and beautiful - and still is!
My friend on the right, Maci, served on the highly competitive Diamond Girls Squad that supported the Mississippi State Baseball team by collecting bats, cleaning bases and raking fields. Needless to say between Rebecca and Maci, I met a lot of athletes at Mississippi State during my tenure there as a student.
The amazing thing about our friendship is that we all had different talents and interests in college, but we found something within each other that we had in common. During the summer of my sophomore year, we all lived together in an apartment that we sublet. Each of us had our own room, and we all had summer jobs.
I lifeguarded at Old Waverly, Maci drove the beverage cart there and Rebecca worked as a waitress at Flo-n-Eddies. Every spare minute we had was spent having fun. I remember Rebecca's mom would come up and make Thanksgiving dinner for us - during the summer. We filled our plates with casseroles, carbohydrates and treats. At this point in life, we didn't eat a whole lot. We were on mainly a liquid diet, so food was good.
At some point in our four years of college, they came home with me, I went home with Maci, and we all spent the night at Rebecca's on one of our many trips to the beach.
And that leads to another subject, my college memories wouldn't be complete without our many trips to Orange Beach, Ala. to stay in Maci's parents condo. Hours spent on the beach chatting, meeting others and getting dressed up for dinner! Coordinating multiple girls to take showers was always a challenge...but we had fun, and we made memories. We had my bachelorette party at the beach. Maci got married on the beach. So many memories...My favorite times on all of these experiences are the times we spent hanging out on the rocks talking, sitting on the patio - talking or sitting on those old, abandoned wooden chairs - talking. Who would we marry? What would we be? Who did we like? Would we always be friends?
I
was the first of the three to marry. They were both in my wedding. Maci
met her husband at my wedding. He was a childhood friend of David's
from Clarksdale. That story is an entire blog post of its own. We both attended Rebecca's wedding as well. Over the
past ten years, we share five children between us. One set of twins (boy
and girl). Two beautiful girls. One Midwestern boy.
For the past several summers, my friends have gotten together again and again at the beach with other friends and reminisced of our old times together. Each summer, I intended to go, but I allowed life, excuses and a busy schedule to get in the way.
After a series of difficult events in January that I experienced - the loss of a childhood friend, the scariness of an unexpected surgery - I decided this year's trip to the beach was nonnegotiable. No fear of wearing a bathing suit, fear or spending family vacation money on my own personal vacation or other reasons were going to get between this time of reconnecting.
Keeping up with people from your past is an important happiness booster. A connection with college friends is a bond that can't be replicated by any relationship you will ever have later in life. As we move through different stages of life, it is more likely that we will not keep in contact with our friends. Well, I am breaking that statistic. I am reconnecting.
I can't wait to share hugs, old times and sit on those old wooden chairs by the sea. I can't wait to not only reminisce but share what we have learned over the past ten years in life. I can't wait to see you both.
