Staying Golden

Last night I had a night of laughter.  I mean the, side-splitting, eye crinkling, snorting kind of laughter.  The kind where everyone in the restaurant is staring at your table because you're talking & laughing, loudly.  We all showed up last night with our own set of "luggage".  The kind of burdens that weigh you down so much you feel like you're physically carrying them around with you. You might even feel like there is no one or nothing that can make you feel better.  Well, that is SO not true.

I celebrated my 20th high school reunion last summer.  (Yikes, it looks so much worse written down.)  There is a group of us that have had a supper club for 20 years.  (Shout out to Shannon for keeping us straight for all 20 of those years!!!  And why didn't we vote you class president?)  Not everyone can make it all the time, and we don't meet every month anymore, but maybe we should.  The systemic "dump" that we all had was therapeutic.  Lisa J., I think your next glass of wine is on me, and the next round of water can be on me too.  LOL!  Sorry everyone, inside joke.

Do you have friends like this?  Friends that have known you so long they know what you're thinking.  They can laugh at you and you know they're not doing it to be mean.  They love you enough to tell you the truth no matter how painful.  When life comes crashing down around you they are the first ones there to pick you up and love you through it.  (except Lisa because she didn't tell us, oui!)  I love my high school friends.  I mean the agape kind of love.  Deep abiding love that grows every  year.  When we're together it feels like we're still in high school, and husbands, children, jobs, and life don't matter. 

As I was driving home, I thought of the movie 'The Outsiders'.  Don't ask me why, my mind is twisted and weird and there's a lot of stuff rattling around in there.  But in the movie, Johnny reads a poem to Pony Boy by Robert Frost called:  'Nothing Gold Can Stay'. 

Here's the poem:
Natures first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold,
Her early leafs a flower,
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day,
Nothing gold can stay, 


In the end of the movie Johnny tells Pony to stay golden.  As I thought about that phrase, my friend's faces flashed in my mind.  Amy, Lisa, Cara, Amy, Aundrea, Stuckey, and Shannon.  There are so many others that weren't there, but I felt them with us because the strands of their lives are woven in with mine.  Gold is the hardest color to hold.  It's rare and it's the one color that must be filled with trust and love.  Being golden stands the test of time and circumstances.  There is a trace of it in every memory, laughter, tears.  I'm thankful for my golden friends.  They bless me more than they can ever imagine.  And just in case I forget, I want to tell them I love them & am thankful for everything they have meant to my life.  My life's tapestry is so much prettier with their golden strands!

If you haven't been to MugShots, go with your friends!  Eat a great burger, and have love and laughter fill your table & may your cup overflow!!!  I had the ComeBack burger with onion rings & it was great.

Y'all be blessed beyond measure,
~ashley