Make New Friends, But Keep the Old
September 17, 2009
You may recognize that title from the Girl Scout song that goes, “Make new friends, but keep the old; one is silver and the other is gold.” I happened to come across these lyrics recently, and they seem to be particularly appropriate now.
This weekend we’re going to do something very special – we’re attending a wedding. But not just any wedding, this is the wedding of someone we’ve known since she was born. Actually since before she was born, if you want to get technical.
When we lived in New Hampshire, years ago, we had a close group of four couples, all about the same age, and all together for just a few years. We knew each other from work, and got together frequently for a gourmet group where we would pick a theme, select and assign dishes, and show up at one couple’s house to cook the meal and have a great time.
Over time, we all started thinking about starting families, and Lorie and I were the first to make the announcement – at a dinner, of course. We told the other couples that they needed to get on board, and – wouldn’t you know it – the two other couples that were trying got pregnant shortly thereafter.
Our son, Jason, was born that December, Meghan was born six weeks later, and Zach was born two weeks after that. It’s Meghan’s wedding that we’re attending this weekend.
After the company we were working for closed the facility, three of the four couples left New Hampshire. We still got together every year to see how the kids had grown and to bring ourselves up to date on what was happening in our lives. But as happens so frequently, time, distance, and the general demands of life made it a bit more challenging to get together, and the annual get-togethers became less frequent, and ultimately stopped.
The good news is this wedding is going to give us an opportunity to reunite (at least three of the couples – the fourth, unfortunately, can’t make it). And these are the kind of friends where you get together after a long gap and it’s as if you had just seen them yesterday. Make new friends, but keep the old…
Time flies by if you let it – one minute three babies are propped up against a couch, and the next minute one of them is getting married. If you can, try not to let everyday demands get in the way of important relationships.
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There is a very important lesson in this article. My husband and I have experienced that overnight “baby to wedding” thing, as well as both losing a parent within a year and a half of our daughter’s wedding – both deaths were sudden and unexpected. Never miss an opportunity to let friends and family know how much they mean to you.