Midwest Skies bring Friends Together

Today I headed west to visit my friend Jeri, in De Moines, Iowa. Jeri is my oldest and dearest friend on earth. She's younger than me by eight months, almost exactly. So, when I say oldest, I don't mean old, by any means. It's just that we go waaaaay back.

Jeri moved to California from Kansas, where she lived on a farm, when we were both in third grade. She moved right next door to me. We were eight years old when we met and made an immediate connection. She only lived next door to me for about a year and a half, but the friendship was immediate and lasting. Her family moved away from my neighborhood to a town not too far from me. We continued to spend weekends together and grew up as best friends. My family frequently spent time at Big Bear Lake in the mountains and Jeri would frequently come with us. I would spend weekends at her house...we were like two peas in a pod, pretty much inseparable. We began going our separate ways in high school. She was a cheerleader at her high school, while I spent all my time riding horses.

I met the love of my life and eventually married him (my childhood sweetheart and taxman). She too dated her childhood sweetheart (the football hero of her school) all through high school and beyond, but they parted ways when he was drafted to play ball and moved out of state. She called me to tell me that she was moving to Carson City, Nevada, where she had a job waiting for her and a new life to begin...to start again with everything new. We lost touch for awhile but never lost the connection. We stood up for each other in our respective weddings. We visited very occasionally in the past thirty years. I hardly know her husband and she hardly knows mine, but that doesn't get in the way of our connection.

She and her husband travel from Carson City, Nevada each year to the farm in Kansas to help with the wheat harvest. This year she and I made arrangements to meet half way between my home near Chicago, Illinois and the small town in Kansas where the wheat fields abundantly grow .

This beautiful cloud-filled big sky is what I saw as I drove to meet Jeri in De Moines, Iowa for a two night catch up visit. It's been eight years since we've done this...

Today I am grateful for friendships that are so strong it doesn't matter the amount of time in between visits. The connection remains powerful and deep. I must also take this moment to say that my other dearest friend on earth is also originally from Kansas. What does it mean? All good friends originate in Kansas?????