Thursday, July 21, 2011

Some Things Never Change

One of life’s blessings is friends to share this journey. Some have come and gone during a particular season of life while others remain after many years. I am blessed to have a couple of close childhood friends that are still part of my life. Many things have changed from the early days but the bond of friendship has not.
For the 4th of July I boarded a plan and headed south to spend a few days in Florida with my friend Mary Catherine. Our friendship began in the first grade when I “bullied” the tire swing at recess and would not let Mary Catherine have a turn at pushing the swing. So she went home crying to her mom who in return prayed with Mary Catherine that we might be friends one day. We became friends by the end of the year and were inseparable for many years following until we graduated high school.
Life has taken us different directions geographically, and she has now been married for almost five years. Even with all the changes, we still pick up right where we left off.  Whenever we are together we always find adventures along the way: whether it is driving the back roads while listening to country music, running through the streets in order to arrive just in time for the fireworks, or nearly being attacked by a school of fish while swimming in the ocean. Life never has a dull moment.  
About to paddle down the Econfina


We spent one day leisurely paddling down the Econfina River and exploring some fresh water springs in a canoe. It took a little bit of practice to learn how to steer since Mary Catherine nominated me to take the backseat. We had a couple of incidents with tree limbs attacking us, but I managed to only end up with one battle wound.
I am amazed with how parts of our lives look so different from our childhood, yet some things never change.  We grow and learn as our circumstances in life change, and we continue to add to the person we are and have always been. It’s not always about what we are doing, but who we are doing it with. As Mary Catherine says “Some things never change, they just get better.”