No Greater Love

Right now, I’m in Greensboro, North Carolina; home of my Alma  mater UNC-Greensboro.  Scott, the kids and I drove here from Missouri to reunite with four of my dear friends from college and their families and to visit the campus.  My friend, Jenna and her husband have been our gracious and generous hosts during our visit.  I haven’t seen many of these friends since 2004, and I haven’t been on campus  since 1996.  I have pictures and memories, but I haven’t actually WALKED those familiar sidewalks to and from classes and STOOD in the shadow of my old dorm with these women in over 15 years.

For three of the four years I was at UNC-G, I lived in a dorm called Gray Hall.  I lived on the  third floor (room 325, to be exact) with some of the most awesome women I will ever have the privilege of knowing.  They are the women I call my “lifelong friends”.  We haven’t always kept in the best  of touch over the  years, though the progression of Internet, email and social networking has helped us to do better, but they are still very much a part of my life.  Everyone is married, has a family and some of us have even shared the journey of adoption together.

 

Visiting campus with my girlfriends, husbands and gaggle of children made me feel like nothing had changed and everything had changed.  Some parts of campus were completely unrecognizable. Where a gravel parking lot and old houses once stood, a giant parking garage and baseball stadium rose in their place.  We often had to ask, “what used to be here?”.   Though there were many new buildings, the heart of campus had remained the same. 

However, it wasn’t just the paradox of the campus grounds that unsettled me, it was the feeling of same and different that I felt on the inside.  Being among my college friends on our college campus was like going through a time warp.  There was such a strong sense of familiarity.  We shared so much of life together during those years and knew so much about each other.                          (1992)

                                                                                      (2010)

And though there is much about me that is the same, there is also much that has changed and I imagine the same is true for them.  Though the familiarity was there, so was a sense of remoteness.  Even though we stay in touch, some of us more than others, I can’t just zip down the hallway to chat or vent or pray with them.  And, boy, do I miss that!

This weekend was a lot about the past meeting the present and it left me very emotional.  I love my present.  I love my family and the fun times we share together.  And, I love that I got to share  four years of my past with some awesome women who are still my closest friends.  Being with them again made me wish, even more than I have been lately, that I could have those same kind of close friendships in the present, but it seems impossible given the busyness of life. 

So, I am extremely thankful for my college friends who are also my current friends; even if we have to chat, vent and pray for each other through email or Facebook.   And I am determined to do what I can to not let another six years pass before we all get together again!