Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold. 

There is something to be said for 24 year old friendships that keep growing through all the wild and crazy phases of life. Rachel and I first bonded over a melted Now-and-Later candy as we traveled on a youth group trip to Disney World on my 13th birthday. Lee threw her back out every Friday night from then on, but looking back it might have all been a ploy to get to be near us without having to drive us anywhere. There was always laughter and brownie baking, movie watching and video making, party planning and sometimes even victorian house painting. The door was always open with Vegetable Beef Stew or Turkey Tetrazzini (or Cabbage Soup during one of our stranger diet phases) simmering on the stove. I was welcome there and I know that I am who I am in large part because of who they were. 

We're not the kids anymore and it's our turn to open our own doors and feast and laugh and cry and photograph each others babies. Such a gift to have seen so many phases of life together! So what if the plague descended upon us on the last day of your visit, leaving only you and Jimmy and me to race through the house using every bowl (and eventually 9x13 pans!) to catch the outpouring of sickness for eight kids and a weary grandmother (at least she didn't throw her back out!)? Just another hilarious memory to add to our collection. We've got lots. 

(And Rachel, if it weren't for Naomi and Jonathan I think your mom might still like me better.)