The Beauty of Friendship!

Tonight was our ward Relief Society's Birthday celebration. We had a lovely dinner, and some fun activities. For starters, they had the tables set in a kind of square. Those sitting on the inside stayed put, and those on the outside rotated for each course. With each new group came a new assignment of something to do. One of them was to find as many things as possible that everyone at the table had in common - besides the obvious, as in we are all Relief Society sisters, we're all LDS, we're all women, etc.

Our group came up with 21 things we had in common - things like we'd all read GWTW, we'd all ridden a horse, we'd all worked outside the home, we all had gray hair, we all like chocolate, you get the picture. Marcie was our scribe, and she ended it with "We are all sexy ladies!!" Gotta love Marcie!

It got me thinking about friendship, and the many friends I have and have had over the years. The above photo is of me with three high school friends. In fact, I went from kindergarten through 12th grade with these women. We do go "way back!"

I had not had any contact with any of my high school friends since we'd graduated together in 1963. Twenty years later in 1983, there was a class reunion - and I went! It wasn't much to write home about, but I did connect with Carol, the girl on my right in the photo. We began to correspond and to get together for lunch. It was worth going to the reunion just to re-connect! She then organized another, smaller kind of gathering, in her back yard in the summer of 1985. It was a lot of fun, and many more came than had been at the other reunion that had been held in a country club.


(An important note here is that when I went to school, you started and stopped every semester. Every semester you changed classes and teachers. Kids started in February and September, and they graduated in January and June. I personally liked the system better, but it ended many years ago. I'm pretty sure it's not in place anywhere these days. The winter class was always smaller - mine had 90 kids in it - while the summer class was larger - maybe 300 or more. The first reunion had been for the classes of January and June of 1963 - the one Carol organized was for just the January class - probably why it was so much more fun!)

The above photo is my Young Women class from probably 1958 or 9 - probably before high school - but then our high school started with 10th grade. I have re-connected with only two of the girls in the picture - the two on the other end than the end I'm on. In fact, we are in regular contact - and neither one of them knows where the other two are. Both of the women I am in contact with went to BYU - one was even a roommate for one semester before I got married.

Before I digress any further, I want to note that whenever I re-connect with a friend from the past, I find that the intervening years don't seem to make much difference. With LDS friends we ask about kids and missions and callings. We find lots in common even beyond the church connections. With non-LDS friends, we talk about jobs and school and kids and husbands and family members. And we find that we have lots in common.

More significantly, however, we connect on a level that has to do with coming from the same generation. The same songs and movies and traditions and trends are like invisible ropes that connect us. (This is what connects us with other church members - the shared experiences and expectations.) I can even meet someone for the first time who is from my era and we connect very quickly. It's not impossible to connect with someone from another generation, but I often note that the connection I make with someone young enough to be my daughter often involves connecting with that shared time frame. Same with younger children - who are the same ages as my grandchildren - I find a connection related to their era - the one they share with my grandkids.

But the overriding conclusion I come to each time is that we have much more in common with one another than we have differences.

An idea that is indeed meritorious and deserves our support and consideration!!