The Reunion, Days gone by...

This morning I am laying in my bed sipping on a cup of watered down coffee reflecting like I often do when I first wake up. Sometimes I think about the kids, chores, or sometimes I meander through my memories. 

The rhythmic rise and fall of my sleeping husbands chest has put me in a thoughtful tranquil mode.  My little me and my adult self walk back in time, hand in hand... We are in the backyard of my one of my best childhood friends, Lindsey's house. It is right at dusk and the yard is littered with about 10 young girls running about, looking for the best place to hide. The world around us echoed with sounds of  young laughter as the lightening bugs started to light up the evening sky. We just sat there and watched the young "us", play and run free. What a great night we all had, this morning! I am blessed to be wrapped up in those kind of memories on this damp dreary Monday morning.

It was about a month ago when those same girls and I got back together. Lindsey and I both married military men and moved away. It just so happens that our families are stationed at the same military base. Eventually, I know we will be separated again and when that happens we will stay in touch just like we do with the rest of the girls. But for now we have each other.

 Through facebook we all had planned to meet up again. For some of us, 11 years had passed since we had seen one another. I really didn't know what to expect. We all met at a half way point for dinner one evening. It didnt take long before we were right back to were we all were before. Nothing fits together like best friends! After all these years the puzzle pieces that makes us us still fits perfectly. We all just picked up where we were so many years ago. 

 We laughed about the "remember whens". We gossiped about people from school. We talked about the roads we had traveled on with spouses and ex-spouses. We shared cute little stories about our kids. We giggled and laughed till we felt tears in our eyes. For a split second in time we were those little girls running through Lindsey's backyard again.

At the end of the night we had planned to return again soon to have dinner but next time we would bring our families. We set our dates, hugged and said our goodbyes. 

Well life happened and things didnt work out. When the dates rolled around to see each other again everyone had engagements that they couldn't get out of.  Sad I know, but we all know how day to day life manipulates our plans. 

Yesterday morning I woke up with Lindsey on my mind. I had even sent her a text. Within just seconds of sending her a text I ended up getting a message from my friend Kristie. She asked if I had spoke with Lindsey lately. I told her yes just yesterday morning. Even though Lindsey and I text/talk on a regular basis, I am no longer on facebook and I had missed her status update, that she had just lost her father.

With in an hour of getting Kristie's message, my inbox was flooded with updates from other friends giving me funeral arrangement updates and times they would be arriving at the viewing. We agreed that Lindz needed to have her girls there.

This morning as I procrastinate on putting on my finest church clothes, cold hard reality is hitting. Just like with all stages of life, its like sand through the hour glass... The monumental stages in life have just slipped by...drivers license, college, careers, marriages, babies and now... the passing of our parents?  We all know whats next...

Today I will reunite with my friends, their spouses, children and even some of our parents. We will sit beside our friend in her time of mourning and loss and pay tribute to one of the great parents that made our amazing childhood memories a possibility. 

But also reality is hitting hard... We are getting older. It is a cold hard fact that we wont ever be able to escape growing up and growing older.

 I pray that even on the days like today when I have to be a grown up that I can still take early morning walks, hand in hand with the little me... and every once in a while I hope to have my girls travel along beside us.