14

There is nothing like a road trip with friends.

That said, I took a road trip this past weekend with my three best friends. We've been friends since kindergarten, and it had been a good year and a half since we'd all been together, without boyfriends or husbands. There were 19 years of memories and jokes and general craziness on the agenda, and the weekend didn't disappoint.

We got stuck halfway to South Carolina because of a horrible thunderstorm and stomach problems, so our trip started out at a Racetrack gas station at 9:00pm on Friday. I'm not sure if that set the tone for the weekend, but it was certainly very us.

We have this talent of all talking at once, about different things, but still holding a decent conversation. I'd forgotten this, until we were sitting in a circle at a Greenville coffeehouse, and I look around and realize that we're all talking over each other, but I'm following the conversation perfectly. Again, very us.

By the time we graduated from high school, we'd all read the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and claimed this story as our own. Kelley bought us all tiny sterling silver pants, little charms, for graduation, a symbol that we might travel our separate ways, but would always be connected. It was true.

We looked like tourists; we all had our cameras, and took pictures every time we sat down, or were still, and sometimes when we weren't. Picture frames at home were empty, waiting for this weekend.

We talked about first love, first kisses, and marriage at our big dinner Saturday night. And I remember all the sleepovers we used to have, in elementary and junior high, staying up late discussing and imagining what love would be like. And now, one of us is married, we've all been in love (and subsequently been kissed) and talk has turned, seemingly overnight, to more serious topics, like making a marriage work, making babies, making a career, making a life.

Alison and Kristen fell asleep on the way home Sunday afternoon, and I was left with my thoughts and the music. Friends are invaluable. These three girls know me better than anyone, and they are the only ones to whom I can say just one word and they know exactly what I'm thinking and feeling, and can almost finish my thought themselves. I don't laugh with anyone the way I laugh with them. And sure, we don't see eye to eye on everything. That's life. And that's also necesary. Keeps us on our toes. They're a different breed of friend, and my life wouldn't be the same without them.