True friends.

Last night we had some dear friends over for dinner whom I haven't seen since I left California to join the Air Force six years ago. They discipled and loved me throughout my senior year of high school, an interesting transition year where my childhood was ending and my walk of faith was just beginning. My best friend and I babysat their adorable kids (1 boisterous little boy, 1 apple-cheeked wee girl), and we've kept in contact as the years passed and both their family and mine relocated beyond the Golden State's borders.

Observing them sitting in a row on our sofa was a surreal experience for me: I remember their children as little blurs whirring around my ankles while I stirred glasses of strawberry milk. Last night found them relaxed across the room from me with gleaming, precocious eyes, long legs (longer than mine!) stretched out beneath the table top, giggling and teasing my brood of boys... the way I used to giggle and tease them.

You know you're in the company of true, time-tested friends when you can come together after so long a time and so many kids and just... be. They watched how we loved our little ones, how we disciplined them, how we loved each other, and they praised us. They encouraged us and reminded us to embrace joy in our home, which is easily forgotten when you're maneuvering temper tantrums and rules violations and intentionally spilled beverages. They wouldn't be sent off without blessing us with a prayer first.

As they walked back out to the car, they gave me tight, long hugs and whispered words of pride in my ear, filling my heart full enough that I might be able to last another six years before we meet again. But probably not :)