now & then

It was the first day in my new kindergarten class. I had transferred during Christmas and started half way through the school year with a class that had been together since August. On my foot was a walking cast from where I had dropped a sparkler on my foot over the break and caught it on fire. (side note: this is a whole "nother" story. and who gives a little girl sparklers at Christmas?!?! my family) A little boy made fun of me and called me names because of my boot. That's when a lanky blonde looked at the mean little boy and told him if he didnt leave me alone she was going to put him in a head lock. He shut up. That my friends, is how I meet my Amber.

After school we attended a form of public school day care. Scary, I know. But Florida public schools are not as bad as you would think. On the playground is where we met Megan. A sweet girl with a contagious laugh. The three of us were insepereable. We had no clue that our friendship would be something that would surprise us all.

Those of you who have dealt with being in a friend group of 3 know how it works. One day friend A and B are BFF and gang up on friend C. The next day C and A are mad at friend B for not sharing her mountain dew(Amber). So on and so forth. Like the time Amber and Megan took my shoe strings out of my shoes and I couldn't get them back in. I'm still bitter about that one.

We have persevered some of the toughest things in life hand in hand:

breakups, makeups, fights, divorce, addictions, miscarriages, broken hearts, you name it, we've made it through. There has been triumph and there has been tragedy, but 3 little girls at Tommy Smith Elementary School singing "watermelon crawl" and daring one another to go into the bathroom to do "bloody Mary" have stood next to one another's side for almost 20 years. We have seen boys and friends come and go, but we have chosen to be friends for life.

Now, Megan has a beautiful baby boy, Jaxson and I get to be an Aunt. Amber is a successful shopaholic and lives in her own cute little apartment (we never thought she would leave her parents house). I am so proud of the women that they have become and look forward to the next 20 years of friendship.