Good friends are hard to come by- and even harder to lose

Recently, after 25 years of no contact, and once re-found, another 2 years of nothing but emails, instant messages, and facebook posts and comments, I was blessed and privileged to finally get to spend some quality time with an old childhood friend. It was a bit awkward, at first- for the first couple of minutes, but then it was like time had never separated us. We were back to talking and carrying on like we did back in high school, and laughing at the same things that made us laugh back then. Then I got to meet her husband, a giant redwood of a man, but also a decent fellow, when he was home on leave from his job overseas. I think we shocked him with some of the stories of our youthful adventures, but it was all good. More recently, I got to meet the family (her two kids, her sister-in-law and her two kids) and had the chance to see my friend's mom again after 27 years (when I had my snot and living daylights squeezed out of me in the biggest hug I've ever received from one of my friends' parents. Catching up on old times, bridging the years, and creating new memories is priceless, and I am so happy and blessed to have found a part of my childhood again.