This is my friend, Laura

Here is a picture of me and my friend Laura who came for lunch today along with her husband, Toby. Laura and I were best friends for the four years I lived in Jefferson, Maryland from 5th grade to 8th grade. Her older brother Will was best friends with my older brother, Alan. The four of us would spend whole days exploring the farm and woods near our house, and either splashing in the Catoctin Creek, or tubing/rafting down it. Sometimes the boys would go mountain biking and Laura and I would create worlds and adventures with our Barbies, not the pink miniskirted Corvette riding ones, but more like characters out of our favorite books, like Anne of Green Gables, or Flower Fairies of the Spring. We dreamed, imagined, explored, laughed and took off on flights of fancy together. Laura and I had our own language that we made up, and we sang together, trying to harmonize and sound like angels. I have so many happy memories with Laura (and alot including Will too)- swimming in the Potomac (up where it is clear and unpolluted), electrocuting ourselves on an electric fence, sledding on a huge tractor tire inner-tube, writing stories, accidentally starting fires, dancing, and dreaming of what heaven would be like.

When my family moved away from Maryland, Laura and I kept in touch for several years, but the letters dwindled and we eventually lost contact with one another. Our moms talked every once in a while, but then we reconnected a couple of years ago, and thanks to Facebook (see, it can be a good thing!) and thanks also to the fact that Laura still has relatives and roots in this area, we were able to arrange a time to get together. It was really great to talk to Laura and remember all our carefree, fun days. I was glad to meet her husband, Toby, and hear about their life in South Dakota. Friends are such a gift, and I thank God for Laura- such an important friend in my childhood, and a friend for life!

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. ~Elisabeth Foley