It's interesting, you know, what these types of events can stir up in a person. Or at least what they stir up in me.
The groom is one of my closest friends; someone I have known for over 10 years. He's seen me at my highest highs and the lowest of lows. Several of his closest friends are people I know or am at least acquainted with, so I looked forward to seeing everyone and celebrating my friend and his soon-to-be bride's upcoming day. When we walked in it was mid-way through the event and getting down to the most familiar faces. Before you knew it several of us were sitting in a circle reminiscing. Ten years is a long time to know people - and it has gone by quickly. As you get older friendships can be fleeting, so to have people in your life that you have invested in and who have invested in you - well, to me, that is a real gift. As I looked around the room I realized I had known some of these people when they were getting their drivers licenses! Now some of them had babies - and some more than one.
I listened to the "remember when's" of the grooms' parents being out of town and him becoming deathly ill, so ill that one of his best friends had to take the day off work and sit with him in the emergency room where they poked and prodded to get an IV in unsuccessfully - his friend saying it was so painful he actually held our friends' hand. And later stocked up on groceries (okay Gatorade for him) while other friends still kept on visiting the house and hanging out while he was sick in bed!! Ahhhh youth.
We shared stories of the groom and I shopping up a storm - and of crazy ladies following me from store to store buying what I bought, of an even crazier time when I was holding up an item on a hanger when a cuckoo store employee took the garment right off the hanger as we were discussing it - giving it to another customer as we stood there in shock!! Then there was the time we were returning from the Hotel Cafe when the homeless guy jetted out into the street with his cart - right in front of my friend's car!! What a crazy night that was. Or when I was so sick with Celiac Disease but mistakenly being treated for MS, and my friend recalled me going on and on convinced I was just going to drop dead (while the Chef shook his head and said that sounded like something I would do).
I couldn't help but quietly remember how much my friend had, over the years, expressed his hope of finding just the right person for him. My mind flooded with the first time I met his fiancee. Their compatibility was just uncanny in the best way possible. I liked her right away and just knew this was it for him! Yay! And now we were all sitting together with the two of them just weeks from their special day.
This aging thing is really a trip. If I stop and let myself think about it, it freaks me out. How about you?
I spent approximately 12 glorious hours today watching a non-stop marathon of The Hills. At one point Heidi Montag said to Kristin Cavallari, 'I feel like I'm not getting any older, but time just keeps on passing by.' In hindsight I think this may be the last coherent thing Heidi Montag said. And no she was not holding a crystal when she said it (sorry I couldn't resist).
When Heidi made that comment it really resonated with me and was like a jolt to the system. I've been pondering it since because it is exactly how I feel.
And I wish the last part of the green note above said And Everything is Being Rebuilt - because I guess this is what happens as you continue growing up. Things change, people move in and out of your life, you age - but time keeps moving and the older you get the faster it moves.
I'm so happy for my friend because he and his bride-to-be are going to have a fantastic wedding and life together!! And we'll all continue a little rebuilding as the clock keeps ticking onward. It's always great to make new friends, but there's something very special about the old ones who know your secrets, your triumphs and trials. They really become like family.