I have a great circle of friends and within that circle, I have a few very close friends.  But I only have one childhood friend.

I met my best friend when we were 14.  It was freshman year of high school and despite an early hiccup in our friendship (she hated me), we managed to cobble together a friendship that has lasted the last 15 years.  Other than my family, she is the only tie to my past.

Sometimes I’m sad that I didn’t do a better job of holding on to my true childhood friends.  The friends I made when I was 8 years old.  The friends who saw me go from little girl to teenager.  Through facebook, I’ve caught up on the lives of several of those friends, but the friendships have almost certainly been lost to time.  I regret that.

But then I think of the 15-year friendship I do have, and I am so grateful.

I got together with her on Saturday.  It was nothing special, just catching up over coffee, but it was wonderful.  I always forget how wonderful our friendship is until we have a morning like that.  It’s easy to take something for granted that has been around for such a long time.  But the shared history, the shorthand conversation, the complete understanding and lack of judgment — it’s a blessing.

So many things in life can get in the way of friendships, and becoming a mother is certainly an obstacle to maintaining good friendships.  I’ve been so lucky to have understanding friends who don’t get angry at me when I have to back out of something last minute because of a sick baby or don’t judge me when I’d rather spend a Saturday evening hanging out with my kid instead of going out with them.  It takes a patient person to put up with me and I am so grateful every day to have found so many friends (and a husband) who gladly put up with me, and a best friend who has stuck by me for so long.

I hope that Mac is half as lucky as I have been with all my friends, but I truly hope he’s lucky enough to find someone as kind and loyal as the girl I’ve been blessed to call my best friend for the last 15 years.