Forever Friends

My dear sweet friend Rica came to visit us this past weekend, and to give a small portion of her testimony at church this morning. She lives a few hours away, where we lived for five years before moving here. She and her husband were good and constant friends to us for those five years. It is those kind of people that causes the pastoral family's heart to break when the bishop says its time to move.

I am mostly a quiet and reserved person. I don't have a lot of friends, but the ones I do have, I hold very dear. So you can imagine how hard it is to leave them every few years. "Will they miss me when I move? Will they even think about me at all?" are questions that always run through my mind. And honestly, most of the time I never know the answer. But then there are some people who are your forever friends. You know the ones I mean. You could go years and not talk to them, but the instant you see each other it's like you are back in Brownies, or Kindergarten, or a freshman in high school, or at summer camp, or that first church your husband served. Your lives have changed, your kids have grown, but that kindred spirit that has been burning low flares again and warms your heart. I challenge you to reconnect with someone in your life who is a forever friend. Life is to short and precious not to let them know how you feel. Send them a note, whether it's Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, email, text, or snail mail. Something they can pull out when they are down and remember that they have a forever friend they can always turn to. And if you don't have someone like this in your life, IT'S NEVER TOO LATE!

So to all my forever friends, you are never far from my thoughts and I love you very much! And to everyone reading this, be safe the next few days. Don't drive on the ice! (And for those of you who care, War Eagle!)