The older I get, the more I realize I have less and less time to cater and pander to me. I blame my friends. They have helped mold me in to the affable person I am today, but leave me with zilcho free time. Oh sure, people come and go – but you have that core group of kindred spirits you always seem to come back to.

Two of my gal pals, Jennifer and Kathryn, have been around, practically, since birth. Kathryn thought I was obnoxious and pushy even back in pre-school. She still thinks that. Jennifer and I always got in trouble together. She was a rebel without a clue. Uh, and still is. They’re like the little sisters I never wanted.

Then they up and moved away to raise their families.

Recently, we got together for the first time in – easily – ten years. It was if time stood still. We picked right up where we left off. Jennifer became a teacher. Alert the media. Kids now terrorize her instead of the other way around. Kathryn became a writer and, unlike me, managed to get a book published.

We laughed and cackled like a trio of magpies. In my formative adolescent years, my parents swore the three of us were slightly touched in the heads. Kathryn and Jennifer and I single-handedly invented ADD. And when we got together … it was still as if we were hosting “Short Attention Span Theater”. And believe me, my parents had even less tolerance for our stupidity now then back in the day. I now know what it feels like to be twelve years old again.

We’re planning a big get together next summer to keep the dream alive. Jennifer somehow landed in the Deep South (where it’s pronounced “sow-yowth”), so Kathryn and I are going there for a change of scenery, y’all.

If you’ve got an old high school or college friend that you haven’t reached out to for awhile, do it. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. And that’s exactly what I tell every kid thinking about going back to school. Who knows … you might even get a friend or two out of it.