Some Friends Are Like That

On my agenda for today was a long-anticipated, worth-the-long-drive-with-four-boys trip to The Other Virginia.

No, I'm not talking about West Virginia.  The Other Virginia is Northern Virginia.

I tell ya one thang, Sonny, us real Virginyuns down here in the Shenandoer Valley are diff'rent than them thar city folks.  But we shore loves 'em anyways.  They can't help it they've gotta live up thar in the North, bless their little hearts.

Now let me suppress my countrified self (sometimes it slips out when I'm not lookin') and try to speak properly again so I can explain that one of my college roommates lives in the wilds of Northern Virginia, on the outskirts of D.C., and today she hosted a gathering of us five women who lived together during our last two years of college.  I could not have asked for a better group of roommates from college days; they were wonderful then, and they're even better now.  I eat up my time with them with a spoon--and always wish for more.

And now, thirteen years removed from college graduation, the next generation is being brought forth:  Dori and Maria are both pregnant, and Jackie just gave birth to sweet baby Nyah.

Despite having a new baby to care for, Jackie opened her home to us and warmly welcomed us for our informal reunion.  After lunch on her back patio, we walked a few blocks to get to a small creek, a wonderful place for our children to expend some energy.  Did you know they have criks in Northern Virginia, right in the middle of the 'burbs?  'Cept they don't know what they're talkin' 'bout and call 'em "creeks."  Speakin' of don't-know-what-they're-talkin'-'bout, what in tarnation are 'burbs anyway?  Is that somethin' you study in school?  Like nouns, adjictives, and 'burbs?  Or maybe it's someone who can't talk right trying to say birds?  Like "we gonna go burb huntin' after chores today"?

Speaking of children, between us, we have seven boys...and one girl.  Little Nyah needs some company, I think.

You know how, with some friends, you can go for months without seeing each other or talking, but once you're together, you pick up easily without missing a beat?

Some friends are like that.

You know how, with some friends, when you're together, time zooms so fast, and it seems like you've only had time to blink and say hello...and then suddenly, four hours have gone past and you have to get ready to leave and say goodbye so you can avoid the rush hour traffic...and you think, "But there was so much more I wanted to ask and say!  We've only scratched the surface!"?

You know how, with some friends, you have so much history together......and even when you don't talk about it, you all remember how someone attempted to break into your house and how you nervously armed yourselves at night with kitchen knives and hairspray bottles...

...and how the washing machine flooded the basement, ruining boxes of a certain elementary education major's precious children's books...and how the garage door broke, and you tried to fix it...and who you dated (or wanted to, but didn't...or did, but didn't want to)?

You know how, with some friends, your relationship can survive the stress of living in very small quarters...

...and each having her own milk (because you thought it would be too much trouble to share and divide the cost equally because, oh dear, someone might drink more than others) in the very small, very overcrowded refrigerator...

...and each having her own dishes and bread and cereal and everything in the very small kitchen in the college apartment?

And how, with some friends, you can learn to laugh about the fact that one roommate was always on the phone (back in the days of one landline in the apartment) talking to her boyfriend in California and nobody else could use the phone...

...and one roommate's room was so messy that no one wanted to share a room with her (and how could she find any of her papers anyway?)...

...and one roommate left cups of hot tea all over the house and boiled eggs and chicken legs on the stove all the time?

You know how, with some friends, you always feel welcomed and loved and safe, no matter how vehemently you argued in college days about the Trinity and women's roles and the Arab-Israeli conflict?

Some friends are like that.

Yes, indeed.  The very best friends are exactly like that.