Past and Present

There is nothing like good friends!  I have had many people come and go in my life.  Some I desperately miss, others I think about often and still others an occasional memory of them will surface.  But all have made an impression on me and have been an important part of my life. 

I have never been good at change.......NEVER!  I don't like it but as I have gotten older, I have learned AND accepted, that it is necessary in life.  It is usually a good thing in the end, but at the time is very hard to deal with.  Moving has got to be one of the hardest thing I have ever done.  Things change when you move.  Friends you have are suddenly not going to be close by anymore.....you won't get to do the things together that you are used to doing. That was always the hardest part for me.  I cherish my friends.....I would do anything for my friends......I miss my friends from the past.

This weekend, my hubby and I were able to go down to Pueblo to get together with our old group of friends.  We have been gone for about 8 years now and I know it seems weird not to see them very often since they are less than an hour away.  But as you know, life gets in the way, kids grow up and more involved in things, and it isn't always easy to find the time.  So in honor of two friend's birthdays, we had a party.  A Bunco Party!  We used to get together all the time to play couples bunco, eat good food, gifts, visit, and laugh like crazy.  We had such a fun group there....6 couples still live there, a few others have moved on, us included.  So we had such a blast spending a long evening with some amazing people that we miss so much.  We were both commenting on the drive home, how much we miss hanging out with them and what a great time we had.  Just like old times!!

When we do our couples bunco night, there is always a theme.  This one was "Nostalgic".  We were to bring gifts to exchange with that theme in mind.  This is one of the gifts we ended up with at the end of the night.......

Other gifts were....pop guns....giant checker board.....Moon pies.....baseball cards...slinky.....yoyos.....army men.....old time pop and candy.......and so on.  It was so great.  It makes me miss them even more now.  I hope this is a new beginning to more get-togethers.  I love these friends from the past!

But the great thing about moving is you make new friends.  And I have made some good friends here.  I am so grateful for my friends that are in my life at the present.  That get me through the hard days.....they make me smile and laugh......they let me vent and cry to them.....and they still love me after all my faults. 

So Friday, when a friend asked me to come over and spend the day making a craft with her new fun machine, I said....YOU BET!!!  This is what we made......

She is so clever as she came up with the idea and we tweaked it to our liking and now we have this great Valentine item to display in our home.  We have decided that we want to make a holiday craft for every month, so we are excited to come up with our next one.....St. Patrick's Day.  Watch the blog for our creation!!!  Thanks for the fun day girlfriend!

And then that night we got together with other friends for dinner and games.  It has been a long time since we have done that, so it was a great time learning a new game and hanging out.  Thanks for the invite friends!

So here is to the friends....Past and Present......I couldn't live without you.  You are a part of me and you make my life better for being in it, whether it is every day, once a year, or any time in between.  I love you all and thanks for being my friend!