Babies Having Babies

It's officially an end of an era.  The last of the trio that is Amanda/Corrie/Emily had her baby shower last night.  Let me just tell you, it was a tad emotional for ol' Amanda.  Corrie and I sat in the back teary-eyed as Emily opened her presents, almost in disbelief that we are old enough to have families and lives.  The word that kept coming into my mind was momentous- a moment of great consequence.  Emily unwrapping onesies while Corrie's little one crawls around, Faith tears around the corner, and Corrie's oldest tells me about kindergarten.  It is the end of an era, but the beginning of an extraordinary one.  Let's go back in time a little...

[Dream sequence begins]

Emily and I were friends at the church where we grew up.  Corrie and Emily were friends at their school.  Somehow in an amazing act of God we all met up at Emily's birthday party where I tricked Corrie into thinking my name was Jolene for the majority of the night.  Corrie's family decided to try another church (they went to a nearby church) and came to ours and we've all been friends ever since.  I remember a very distinctive night when I knew we'd all be friends eternally when Corrie told us about her cows humping in the front pasture when her bus dropped her off one afternoon.  (Her storytelling captivated me, what can I say?)  We have been through thick, thin, college, break ups, deaths of friends, arguments, good choices, HORRIBLE choices, countless tennis games, bike wrecks, camping trips, and scars together.  And we still are friends.  We live apart and can converge and take control of any restaurant, bar, or dive in a matter of minutes.  They make me feel at home instantly.  I don't feel comfortable with really any friends but them.  They are THE BEST. 

So, back to last night.  And babies having babies.  We're actually not babies.  All in our mid to late twenties, a completely acceptable age to have families and yet, I was still so surprised.  I still want to think of us giggling at church camp during the service, going to Pizza Hut after church almost every Sunday night and imagining us re-doing the "Sin Wagon" video in Corrie's little silver car.  (I would still like to do that though.)  Change is really hard for me, so I've always been a little sad that those aren't still our present days, but memories.  But I'm learning to embrace where we all are instead of pining away for days gone by.  We are all in amazing places, places God intentionally put us in at this particular time.  So I guess we're all in momentous times, and getting to share in them with each other makes me just about the happiest girl in the world.