Forever Friends

Today's guest post is brought to you by Leah. It made me cry and realize just how lucky I am. Like a true best friend, she knew just what I needed.

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When Erin first announced that she was looking for people to guest post at her blog, I enthusiastically said I would do it. I was so enthusiastic, in fact, that I was the annoying child who knows the right answer in class screaming "Me, me, me!" with their hand frantically waving in the air. I was eager for the task! I envisioned writing a sensational story about how awesome Erin is (which you all already know), how we became friends, or what she means to me.

When it came time to write my story, I stared at a blank word document for hours. How do you put these things in words? There so many reasons why I love Erin and why we are friends. What words would give justice? There is so much to tell. Perhaps, I, the girl who neglects her own blog was not the right person to be a guest blogger. I started narrowing my thoughts and remembered a defining moment that I knew Erin would be one of my best friends and a part of my life forever.

And so, I decided to tell you about my perspective on something we all do. Something I usually do not talk about. The test of true friendship. I believe we all put our friends through tests of whether or not they will be forever friends. Now, test is a harsh word, it makes it sound like I set up an obstacle course and ask potential best friends to take their best shot at it. Actually, my friendship test is simple, it is not something I think about before it happens. It is something that, in a true friendship, I believe wholeheartedly, will happen naturally.



My test of friendship is being allowed to become a part of one's everyday. Allow me clarify. If you are comfortable lying in pajamas in my bed giggling with me, just talking to me while I do dishes, or allowing me to help you bathe your child, I consider you the truest of friends. I consider you a forever friend. Because the friendship transcends having to have a planned outing like going to dinner or a movie to have a good time. It feels deeper because it allows one to be a part of who you really are. It is the sharing of real life, and what is more precious?

I remember the first moment I knew Erin would be one of my best friends. One of my forever friends. It happened after Erin and I had been friends for some time, and I suspected she would become a forever friend and I truly loved her already. Erin had been visiting me at my parent's house, many years ago. She slept in my sister's room because my sister was out of town. Each morning, Erin would come into my room and jump into the bed. We would stay there in our pajamas talking, giggling, and even looking at funny things on the internet. It was for me, a moment, that stood still. I recognized that this is what real, true, friendships are about.



Since then, we have shared so many moments of our everyday lives in the few visits we get to have with each other. Erin has given me the privilege of helping give her children baths. I have rocked baby Tommy to sleep. I have sat on her couch giggling, watching television, and folding laundry. We have stamped text books together. I have sat on the floor of her guest room while she taught me how to put on foundation. I have cooked scrambled eggs and cheese for Luke at my home. We have stared at a computer screen putting together her wedding album together. This list is seemingly without end...

Don't get me wrong, I love going out to dinner with Erin (at Lucrezia!), taking shopping trips in the city, getting pedicures, or being invited to birthday parties and baby showers. And I look forward to trips to the beach with our children and husbands someday. But I will ALWAYS love her for inviting me into her everyday.

I will always love her, period. She is a true friend that I feel blessed to have be a part of my life for always and ever. (She passed the test.)