I was born in Hobbs, NM. It has been described as the armpit of New Mexico...by someone that currently lives there. Personally from the trip that our family made out there 2 springs ago, it seems like it has more to offer in many ways than the town in which we currently reside.
We lived in several homes/apartments in Hobbs. My mother was single and it was just the 2 of us for a long time...well 5 years or so, but that is a long time to a child. When she re-married we moved to Midland, TX. Just over the Texas-New Mexico border. Same weather, much bigger town. My first sister was born when I was 6. It was quite a change for me, but I guess being so much older, it wasn't so hard on me, as I was old enough to understand that she was the baby. My other sister followed 2 years later. The 6 and 8 year differences in ages made for me playing the "mommy" role more than the sister/friend/co-conspirator role. In Midland I had a different best friend each year. We moved pretty much each year so there weren't many years when I was in the same school with the same girls. Friends were more of a yearly thing for me. I still remember many of those girls, and while the friendship wasn't a long lasting one, it was often times a much needed friendship and deeply cherished.
When I was about 11, my mother divorced my step-father and we moved up to North Carolina where my grandmother and some other family members lived. We lived with my grandmother for 2 years and for the first time I had more than a year-long friend. It was great. There was a group of us about 5 strong and we were the best of friends. We didn't do much outside of school together, but in school we were inseparable.
After 2 years, we moved again...just my mom and sisters and me and once again a new school and friends were in the cards. I spent the last two years of middle school and the first year of high school with the same kids. One of the good friends I made was a boy. He was the best. We would talk on the phone for hours. Come high school I realized he had a crush on me and after 2 very awkward months of high school freshman dating (talking on the phone, going to the library to study and movies) we broke up and there went the friendship. My other good friend, Brandi, was a girl who I truly couldn't have survived without having in my life. We had sleepovers and parties and so much fun together. We knew so much about each other. We talked of all the high school things that went on and helped each other get over break-ups and family problems and all. I thought we would always stay so close.
Sophomore year in high school brought another move. This one for the remainder of high school. Unfortunately the move also ended the friendship I had with Brandi. The 20 minute difference in our homes and the different schools proved to be too much for 2 girls who couldn't drive and had busy lives going on outside of the friendship. We lost touch and with a move of her own we just haven't been able to get back together to catch up. However, with the new school and 3 years to be there, new friends were there. It was great to have long-term friends, or at least the closest thing I had ever had to it.
I had several girlfriends and a couple guy friends who were really a good support system. They provided the friendship that I needed to get through high school. Getting married right after high school and moving to another state pulled on those friendships too. I still keep in touch with a few gals now through email/instant messengers/etc. but we are certainly not best friends like we were in high school.
There was always something that seemed to be missing in all those relationships anyway. There was just the lack of a common goal. I mean, sure, we were all trying to pass the current grade, get to the next, ultimately graduate, but that really isn't much of a glue to hold two people together. It takes more than that.
Married life brought lots of changes, including a pregnancy just 2 years later. This was a time of great change....not just in a personal way and in our own home, but with friends. Put 2 women who share pregnancy and motherhood together and you have some mighty strong glue. With these friends there were lots of things in common. Having a happy marriage, being a good wife and mother, raising children who are loving and caring. Add to that, that this time many of these friends were found in the church and talk about glue...this was like Gorilla Glue! The common goal of heaven can pull even the most different of people together.
I have been so blessed to find some great friends. And friends like I have never had before. Friends who I am able to tell the most intimate of things. Friends who I can laugh with or cry with just as easily. Friends who I can pray with, study with, learn and grow with.
Sometimes I feel like my childhood and the number of moves and house changes and school changes that I went through left me with a hole. A hole where some life-long friend should fit. It is an oddly shaped hole. And one that can never be filled. Now, any friend that I make or have is an adult only friend. A person who, no matter what, can never fill that empty place. Thankfully it seems that even with that hole there, I can be full. The friends I have fit so close to that empty place that they squeeze it from all sides. There isn't room for an empty place any more...it will be squashed. And once it is, there will be more room for those friends to fill up. More room for a greater friendship than my life has ever let me know. I am truly blessed to know 3 of the most wonderful women...beautiful, strong, courageous, powerful, loving women, that I don't know what I would do without.
May God bless those women with all the good that He has. May their dreams and hopes and wishes all come true. May their lives be full of joy and peace and love and beauty and hope and full of God. May the friendships only grow and change in ways that will strengthen and renew day after day. May we always be there for each other and may we know, as good friends should, when the other needs a shoulder to lean on and cry on, a loving friend to share good and bad with, an open ear and heart to share the hurts and pains and joy and happinesses that come with this life here on earth. And, may we all be there to help lead each other on to the eternal place were we can be the best of friends forever and ever.
We lived in several homes/apartments in Hobbs. My mother was single and it was just the 2 of us for a long time...well 5 years or so, but that is a long time to a child. When she re-married we moved to Midland, TX. Just over the Texas-New Mexico border. Same weather, much bigger town. My first sister was born when I was 6. It was quite a change for me, but I guess being so much older, it wasn't so hard on me, as I was old enough to understand that she was the baby. My other sister followed 2 years later. The 6 and 8 year differences in ages made for me playing the "mommy" role more than the sister/friend/co-conspirator role. In Midland I had a different best friend each year. We moved pretty much each year so there weren't many years when I was in the same school with the same girls. Friends were more of a yearly thing for me. I still remember many of those girls, and while the friendship wasn't a long lasting one, it was often times a much needed friendship and deeply cherished.
When I was about 11, my mother divorced my step-father and we moved up to North Carolina where my grandmother and some other family members lived. We lived with my grandmother for 2 years and for the first time I had more than a year-long friend. It was great. There was a group of us about 5 strong and we were the best of friends. We didn't do much outside of school together, but in school we were inseparable.
After 2 years, we moved again...just my mom and sisters and me and once again a new school and friends were in the cards. I spent the last two years of middle school and the first year of high school with the same kids. One of the good friends I made was a boy. He was the best. We would talk on the phone for hours. Come high school I realized he had a crush on me and after 2 very awkward months of high school freshman dating (talking on the phone, going to the library to study and movies) we broke up and there went the friendship. My other good friend, Brandi, was a girl who I truly couldn't have survived without having in my life. We had sleepovers and parties and so much fun together. We knew so much about each other. We talked of all the high school things that went on and helped each other get over break-ups and family problems and all. I thought we would always stay so close.
Sophomore year in high school brought another move. This one for the remainder of high school. Unfortunately the move also ended the friendship I had with Brandi. The 20 minute difference in our homes and the different schools proved to be too much for 2 girls who couldn't drive and had busy lives going on outside of the friendship. We lost touch and with a move of her own we just haven't been able to get back together to catch up. However, with the new school and 3 years to be there, new friends were there. It was great to have long-term friends, or at least the closest thing I had ever had to it.
I had several girlfriends and a couple guy friends who were really a good support system. They provided the friendship that I needed to get through high school. Getting married right after high school and moving to another state pulled on those friendships too. I still keep in touch with a few gals now through email/instant messengers/etc. but we are certainly not best friends like we were in high school.
There was always something that seemed to be missing in all those relationships anyway. There was just the lack of a common goal. I mean, sure, we were all trying to pass the current grade, get to the next, ultimately graduate, but that really isn't much of a glue to hold two people together. It takes more than that.
Married life brought lots of changes, including a pregnancy just 2 years later. This was a time of great change....not just in a personal way and in our own home, but with friends. Put 2 women who share pregnancy and motherhood together and you have some mighty strong glue. With these friends there were lots of things in common. Having a happy marriage, being a good wife and mother, raising children who are loving and caring. Add to that, that this time many of these friends were found in the church and talk about glue...this was like Gorilla Glue! The common goal of heaven can pull even the most different of people together.
I have been so blessed to find some great friends. And friends like I have never had before. Friends who I am able to tell the most intimate of things. Friends who I can laugh with or cry with just as easily. Friends who I can pray with, study with, learn and grow with.
Sometimes I feel like my childhood and the number of moves and house changes and school changes that I went through left me with a hole. A hole where some life-long friend should fit. It is an oddly shaped hole. And one that can never be filled. Now, any friend that I make or have is an adult only friend. A person who, no matter what, can never fill that empty place. Thankfully it seems that even with that hole there, I can be full. The friends I have fit so close to that empty place that they squeeze it from all sides. There isn't room for an empty place any more...it will be squashed. And once it is, there will be more room for those friends to fill up. More room for a greater friendship than my life has ever let me know. I am truly blessed to know 3 of the most wonderful women...beautiful, strong, courageous, powerful, loving women, that I don't know what I would do without.
May God bless those women with all the good that He has. May their dreams and hopes and wishes all come true. May their lives be full of joy and peace and love and beauty and hope and full of God. May the friendships only grow and change in ways that will strengthen and renew day after day. May we always be there for each other and may we know, as good friends should, when the other needs a shoulder to lean on and cry on, a loving friend to share good and bad with, an open ear and heart to share the hurts and pains and joy and happinesses that come with this life here on earth. And, may we all be there to help lead each other on to the eternal place were we can be the best of friends forever and ever.
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