Now & Then

Thanks to Facebook, high school reunions are no longer the way we catch up with classmates. I already know the name of the class president's son and that so-and-so recently got engaged/married/pregnant/divorced. It's nice, I suppose.
What's nicer is still being best friends with the girl I grew up next door to and regular check-ins with the girl I goofed off with in math class senior year.

Last night, I had dinner with these girls. Laura's parents were watching her two little girls and Kelly was home from NYC for the holiday with her steady boyfriend. Our men talked sports and shared silly stories about us. We jumped from topic to topic like middle schoolers without their Ritalin.

Instead of making me feel like a teenager again, the whole night reminded me how much of an adult I am. 10pm buckets of beer are now 7:30 steakhouse dinner reservations. Shots are now glasses of Malbec. Closing the bar is now heading home at 9:30 because there are kids to put to bed, family to visit, and errands to run in the morning. And I'm thrilled, thrilled with my life and the happiness of my friends. Our lives are in different places now at 30, but when we get together - we're the same girls we've always been. I love that my husband gets to see this side of me.

I've known these women more than fifteen years and I'm thankful to have them in my life, now and then.