Friendship

Today was the birthday of one of my longest and dear friends. This woman has been in my life since I was about 8 years old. We grew up together. We were in Girl Scouts together, had sleep overs and even lived together in our first apartment during my first year in college. She is such an amazing, hard working and dedicated person and I am always so impressed to say that I have had a friend for 18 years now. It's such a great accomplishment. Most people have friends and then eventually grow apart from them, but no matter where the two of us are in our lives, we have always remained great friends.
Lately life has begun taking over. With me living in Virginia, focusing on my life, husband and school and with her being in Ohio with a husband, 2 kids and a job, time can get away from us. If it wasn't for social networking sites, we would hardly be able to keep up. But thankfully, we do find the time for each other and meet up at least once a year for a great chance to catch up.
Being her birthday, I decided to give her a call to wish her a happy birthday. We got to talking and ended up speaking for over 2 hours. A time amount that I was prepared for and expected. I always enjoy talking to my friend. She is so bright, intelligent and full of stories. Even just today, she had the most interesting stories about her "crazy" day. In Proverbs 17:17, it states that "A friend loves at all times, and is born, as is a brother, for adversity." My friend, along with a few others in my life, definitely fits this scripture. She loves me at all times and after 18 years, that's a long time. She is also there for me at times of difficulty. You can imagine that in 18 years of friendship, not all of them have been perfect. We have hit rough spots in our friendship and I had hit rough spots in my life. She was always there, and we would talk them through and be good as new.
She is someone that I admire and look up to. I am so thankful to have her apart of my life and trust that God will keep providing her for me. I think he knows that she is someone that I will always need. "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow." -Ecclesiastes 4:9-10.
Happy Birthday to my friend.