Pink Shoes: Old Friends.

It's rare. But do you have any friends that you've known since before you can remember?

The kind that you have a "first day of school" picture with.......from kindergarten?

The kind that you "suffered" through chicken pox with even though that really meant you got to stay home from first grade together for two weeks and play all day?

The kind that your parents would let you stay overnight at their house for a full week while they were on vacation?

The kind that you got in trouble with more times than you can count for being too wild, playing tag upstairs, jumping on beds, giving your Barbie dolls haircuts, or taking a bathroom break behind the bushes with because you just couldn't imagine taking a break from playing to go inside?

The kind that you made countless prank calls to 1-800-Call Sam with on the school pay phone every lunch break while you were in elementary school? (That's as true as the day is long).

The kind that you played piano recitals with, learned to drive with, participated in church talent shows with, dressed up as a bride and a groom for Halloween with, went overseas with, and walked across a stage at high school graduation with?

The kind that you fought with over toys, phone calls, other friends, recess games, sleep-overs, hurt feelings, boys, summer camp, who would pay for gas, and where you'd go to college?

I have two. Dawn & Lisa.

And we're old now. Dawn lives in Japan and Lisa lives right here in Grand Rapids.

Are we the same friends of 'yore that I mentioned above? Not necessarily. We're married, we have kids, we live totally different lives, we all have different jobs, we have different interests now, and we have a lot of stuff to do. But I know that there are two people out there in the world, besides my family, who have seen me at my best, my silliest, my stupidest, my funniest, my most beautiful, my most ugly, my most successful, at my biggest failures, and at my proudest moments. And when I do see them or talk to them or write to them there is this underlying current of , "I know you. I REALLY know you."

And that is a wonderful feeling.

We are who we were raised to be. And that doesn't mean that we necessarily have the same ideas, goals, beliefs, friends, or thoughts as how we were raised, but we can't erase the threads that wove us, the people who invested in us to make us who we are today, or the friends that stood by us and share the memories and moments of who we became.

And now that I'm a mom I want to foster those relationships for Georgia. I want to create a team for her besides her mommy and daddy, gaga and pop pop, aunts and uncles. I think it's our job as parents to encourage those kinds of relationships when we see one that would be a good fit. A relationship that will have history and depth and longevity. I want Georgia to have a handful of girlfriends that when she's thirty years old she can say, "I haven't seen Fiona in three years because she lives across the country but she is and will always be one of my oldest and dearest friends."

Because there is an immense amount of comfort in having a relationship like that.

And I don't know if Georgia's friend Fi, who she spends her time with now, when she's two, will be one of those friends for her........but what if she is?

I see them play, fight over crayons (that was Georgia--and she of course--in true two year old fashion had to have a time out while having a play date), dance like crazy to Da-Da-Da-Da-Da Dora in the living room, read books together, watch a little Sesame Street, run around at church, shriek in restaurants, and give hugs to each other every chance they get and I can't help but wonder if maybe they will be. Maybe they'll be old friends.

They spent a little time together this morning.........