As I review my life, I can’t help but think about the many friends have had through these past 81 years. I remember the name of my very first best friend. It was Mary Beth O’Neill. She was the first Catholic I’d ever met. We did everything together, including going to Saturday movies and staying to watch the main attraction a second time. We played jacks, went roller skating and put on backyard plays. I attended her first communion and was enthralled by the grandeur and splendor of it, yet I didn’t understand a word of the Latin service. We were friends until my family moved away from that neighborhood. I never saw Mary Beth again. I wonder sometimes what happened to her. 

There were lots of friends after her, that filled the empty spot she left in my heart. I’ve never really considered myself an outgoing person, especially when I was younger. Time changes things like that. I would eventually learn to be better at making friends, but through those teen years, I was sort of an anomaly – always trying to be like everyone else – to fit in – to live up to what was expected of me. I made many wonderful friends in high school and still keep in contact with some of them. Friends came in all sizes, ages and shapes as time went on. This is true even today.

Most of my friendships have been shaped at the churches I’ve attended over the years. Whenever we moved our living space, we would join a new church and make new friends. We make friends through our interests and hobbies along with our beliefs and ability to nurture each other. As I’ve grown into this final chapter of my life, I look back at the many friendships that I’ve formed over the years and must say, I have been so blessed by a great many of them. I now can claim many more than one BFF. The list is growing shorter though as some of those friends have passed away, but the beauty of true friendship with someone you share your faith with, is that it never ends. You can be sure that you will meet again someday in heaven. 

“If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you.”—A.A. Milne