Silver and Gold

Today is my friend Lydia's birthday. I met Lydia in junior high, but we really became friends in high school while attending Hay Town together. I keep up with her every so often, but not very regularly.

There is a song:

Make new friends,
But keep the old:
One is silver
And the other gold.

I have to admit that Lydia is a silver and a gold friend. Our lives have drifted apart because of time and location, but I at least always think of her on this day and so I think I'll do a little reminiscing.

Like I said, Lydia and I became friends in high school, but I remember our Senior year most. Every Monday night we would switch off staying over the other's house and would head off to Tuesday morning high school prayer which started at 6:30. Those Monday nights were a lot of fun. I don't think we usually got to bed before 1 or 2 am because we were so busy chatting. And I will never forget the night that we stayed up late waiting for her parents to go to bed so we could secretly "Glintz" our hair. That was our version of being really rebellious! Then of course, we made valentine's cookies for all our friends and our big project was putting together our senior page for our school's yearbook. Those were really good times.

Lydia and I LOVED Toad the Wet Sprocket and would talk about which songs reminded us of various people that we knew. I have to admit that I cannot listen to a Toad the Wet Sprocket song now without thinking about Lydia.

And of course Lydia was (and is) gold - really. She had a kind heart and never spoke poorly of other people. Lydia drove herself to school and so she gave me lots of rides home, too. I really admired her kindness and her neatness. My room was always a disaster, hers was always clean. I wondered how she did it. And she respected and honored her parents.

Although our friendship changed during the college years, I still remember good times then, also. She went away to UC Davis and I stayed in Hayward to go to CSUH. She lived in dorms and apartments and then finallly a house and I had a lot of fun living vicariously through her. And again, she continued to amaze me. She cooked and cleaned and still got good grades and was always a joy to be around.

The last time I saw Lydia was almost a year ago. We were back from Peru and she was visiting her parents who still live close to mine. She was the same pleasant girl I remember and I thank God for her. I learned a lot from her and I count it a privilege to know her.