{this moment}

This is my husband Mike, with our friend,Brian. We all went to high school together. Brian was the best man in our wedding. He's Nicholas' godfather. He's the kind of friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Mike and Brian were on the USS Ronald Reagan this week for this moment:

This is Chris, taking command of an aircraft carrier. Chris went to high school with us, too. And I'm blessed to call Chris' high school sweetheart (now his wife), Shelley, my dear friend. Chris was in our wedding, too and Mike was in his. That was the first wedding Michael, a tiny infant, ever attended.

So there they were, all of them in San Diego celebrating something that seems so surreal to me. I had hoped to go, to make another California trip like last year's, but it was not to be. Instead, Mike went and took pictures and told me all about it. While they all heralded the milestone, I moved through my daily round, remembering.  I remembered being about 15 on a rowboat on Lake Accotink with these guys (and I remember getting perilously close to the waterfall--ahem).  I remembered my father drilling Chris at my dining room table before his Naval Academy admissions interviews. I remember when Chris and Brian heard they were "in" at the Naval Academy. And I remembered all the moments we've treasured in the last thirty years. These are moments you can't imagine when all your friends are scattering from your small town high school to colleges far and wide. You think it's all over forever. 

But it's not.

Genuine friendship? Endures and grows.

Moment by moment.