One is silver the other is gold...

Making friends as an adult is NOT easy, especially if you've had the experience of college.  I stay in touch with some friends from my childhood and I definitely had some great friends as a kid, but quite honestly none compare to the one's I made in college.  Since we moved here five years ago it has been extremely hard to connect with people in a real meaningful way.  Don't get me wrong, we have met some amazing people and I look forward to getting to know them even better, but it has been hard.  In the setting of a small (seriously small) Christian college I was smack dab in the perfect place to develop friendships.  We saw each other every day, studied the Bible together, went to chapel, lived together...and even if we didn't all live on campus, we were still spending a majority of our time together.  Some of these truly gold people I met were in my first year, straight out of high school and some were towards the end of my 4.5 years there but regardless, they made a life changing impact on me.  About a month ago we were able to see some dear friends for a couple hours and totally just picked up where we had left off, even though it's been about 5-6 years.  Over Memorial Day we drove out to Montana to visit friends and our other friends drove up from CA and met us as well.  Our kids ages ranged from 2-6 and they were instantly playing together, favoring the huge dirt pile outside most of all.  Just this week we were blessed by a visit from more special friends who are currently teaching in Egypt, and of course our kids were instant buddies.  :)  Sami and I started at SJCC together, we spent some time living in the dorms together, had classes together, jogged together.  More importantly though, she played a large part in Norm and I getting together.  It was amazing to see them even if for a brief time and to share parenting stories and advice.  It always helps to see our kids through another set of eyes and get their feedback on our daily struggles.
Today as they left for the airport, my heart literally ached.  I understand that college is long over and we're spread out all over the world...but these people will forever be dear to me.  I'm learning that if I want to cultivate deep and meaningful relationships where I am now I really need to make an effort, which can be hard when you have kids.  I am thankful for things like Google hangouts and Skype, any way to stay connected to these incredible people who made such an imprint on me.  I might gripe about student loans quite a bit and how I will probably never pay them off (no really I'm serious, like never); but the saying is true, those friendships are gold and truly priceless to me.

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