Days of Auld Lang Syne

 

Springing forward into the New Year. That's the normal course of things. But this New Year's Eve, my husband and I stepped back in time, to a life we used to live, with friends who have known us right from the beginning of adulthood. We didn't know it then, but we were all in an incredibly special time of life, buying our first houses, having our first babies, working our first jobs. We learned together and supported each other. Some were a little farther down the adult path than others and they were the wise ones we looked to for advice and example. But really, twenty years later I can see we were all on those first few rungs of the ladder, each one lending a hand in the glorious climb. Those were the years of watching each other's kids, working on each other's houses, helping each other move, and encouraging each other just by walking the same path.

Years apart can't extinguish friendships like that. We laughed at old jokes and enjoyed catching up on the big and small things that have made up life since we were together last. For a talker like me, it was awesome!

We walked by and took pictures of the house we brought our oldest son home to, peeked in the backyard where we pushed our kids on swings and set up wading pools. Reminisced over the foreclosure we bought and then spent months working on. Speculated about the different ways your life can go if you choose one path over another. To anyone else they're ordinary houses and streets in an ordinary neighborhood, but for us they hold history. 

We're back in Nashville now. We've fast forwarded again thirteen years to a different house, different jobs, and more kids. This life is real and ours and where God has placed us. It's where we belong in 2016, but it was certainly wonderful to visit Jamestown once again!