That is what friends are for!

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Sometimes, it is hard to believe that I am as old as I am. I mean, it is not like I am a senior citizen or anything, but the big 4-0 is less than a month away. (25 days to be exact!)  I don’t feel that old.  I cannot bethat old!  For some reason, 40 seems a little harder to accept than 30 was.  There is more gray hair (can’t very well get a cut and color with my neck in this condition.  How could I possibly get rinsed?)  I have noticed a few lines on my forehead and around my eyes. (Botox, anyone?)  And I find it harder to stay awake for an entire episode of Saturday Night Live!  But then there are times when I feel like I am 20 again.  This weekend was one of those times.

I have 5 friends.  Well, I actually have a lot more than that, but I think these 5 girls are my “oldest” friends and by that I don’t mean that they are cashing in on a senior discount either.  I mean that they have been my friends since kindergarten, 4th grade and 7th grade.  Since our junior year in high school (or was it our senior year?  Girls?  Someone has got to know the exact year we started!) we have celebrated Christmas together.  Just the 6 of us.  No husbands, no kids.  We take turns hosting the party and we host in pairs. This was my year to host with one of my friends, Margo.  She came by in November and we planned our menu and made our grocery lists and divided it up. She would do the big shopping due to me being three weeks out of surgery and I would hit the local Italian market for some specialty items.  We decided on an Italian menu and planned on making a traditional lasagna and then also a vegetarian lasagna with a white sauce.  Our appetizers consisted of an antipasto platter with peppers, Italian olives, prosciutto, cappicola and of course provolone and mozzarella.  We also had some hummus and assorted breads, olive tapanade and some fantastic garlic and balsamic dipping oil with a rosemary bread. Yum!  And what would an Italian meal be with out a Tiramisu for dessert?  Wow….delish!

Margo came over on Saturday AM and we started the preparing.  Mr. T. and the boys left early for basketball so we were able to cook and prepare without little hands wanting to help and with out big hands stealing the pepperoni!  We turned on the Christmas music and got to work.  Margo is one of the girls that I have known my whole life.  When we were pre-schoolers, her family lived around the corner from my family.  We went all through school together. Elementary, Middle School, High School and yes, even some college.  I lived with her in LaCrosse as well.  Whenever we are together, you can be sure that there is a lot of laughter!  Margo is really funny and has a knack at making people roar with laughter.  She was actually voted “Class Clown” in high school, so you can imagine!  The hours slipped by and 3.5 hours felt like 20 minutes.   We talked about our kids, our jobs, our families as we chopped and sauteed!  Margo then went home to relax a little and I tried to lay down for a minute or two.  The rest of the girls were coming over at 4PM.  We like to start early because as hard as we try to see each other, it comes down to once a year.  My friend Julie lives in Illinois, my friend Courtney lives in Cincinnati, one of the other Julie’s lives in Racine and the rest of us are in K-town.  Out of the 6 of us, three of them are named Julie. I know, weird!

I love these girls.  When we get together, we talk and talk and talk and talk!  There have been many Christmas parties that ended after 3 AM and in the last few years, some of the parties even turned into sleep overs.  Last year, we all made the road trip to Cincinnatti, which is a 6 hour drive!  Poor Courtney always, every year makes the drive here so it was the least we could do.  I’ll tell you what…I don’t think there was a moment of silence the entire 6 hour drive!  We had a blast.   One of the Julie’s brought pictures from last years Cincinatti party to the party this weekend for all of us to enjoy.  That is how often we see each other!  We laughed, toasted with a Snowflake Martini and just enjoyed each others company.   We had a great meal, exchanged some beautiful gifts and most importantly,  savored being together.   We have been in each others weddings, been there for each other through the births of 13 babies, celebrated birthdays and wedding showers with each other and grown up together.  Not many people can say that about their friends.  We are lucky.  With everything going on in the world today, it is comforting to know that there are people you can count on, people that are there for you through thick and thin, through good times and bad and people that will do your dirty dishes for you while you rest on the couch!  Thanks, girls!  Not just for doing all of the dishes, but just for being my friend.  I love each and every one of you!  I know this for sure:  Really good friends are the like the stars in the night sky….you cannot always see them, but you know they are always there.

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