Friends

This week as been wonderful. It not only was Mardi Gras, but our good friends, the Bushmans, were in town to clear out their home and put it back on the market. They have not lived in the Big Easy since the hurricane. The Bushmans have been our friends for eight years. At times I wonder how our two families became such good friends. Shannon is nine years older than I am. Her kids are no where near the same age as my children are (when we moved here Hannah was just 7 months old), but for some reason we just clicked right from the start. We have celebrated every holiday together from Thanksgiving to Easter even including watching most super bowls with them.

We were able to watch their children grow up and they were there when we added to our family. She instantly took Hannah when Caden came into our lives three weeks early. I was there when she had Bailey three weeks early. Richard was able to stay the night, because Addie was only five months old at the time. Bailey was born on her sister's birthday, so we did an impromtu party for Maddie.

Riley and Maddie became our family's favorite babysitters. The nice thing was whenever we would double date one would stay at their home and one would come to my home. Her kids would also play with mine and be fun with them even though there was a large age and interest difference.

My kids adore their children and Addie and Bailey are two peas in a pod.

We always evacuated from hurricanes with them. For Ivan we made it to Baton Rouge in 9 hours and decided to turn around and have a big slumber party at their home instead and ride out the storm that luckily vered East. For Hurricane Katrina we went to Houston together. We had fun ice skating, eating, and spending time together. They even did our laundry after Caden threw up in the car. That was just the kind of friends they are. This week felt normal knowing that Shannon and her family were in their home on Platt St. and I could stop by and bring her a Diet Coke, just like old times. Having them in Arizona just isn't the same, but I know that we will always be close friends because when they walked in the door the other night bringing me a Diet Coke, because they had just filled there tank with gas our conversation never skipped a beat and it was like they had been here the whole time.

We had a wonderful dinner at Ruth's Chris Thursday night. Maddie came to babysit and Riley stayed to watch Bailey at their house. We laughed and talked and were the last ones in the restuarant to leave.

That is what I love about real friendships. It's like things haven't missed a beat even though we haven't seen each other for a long time. Things pick up where they left off. Old "inside" jokes are still funny along with new ones that have come about with the recent Mardi Gras festivities.