My Perennial Friends!

When I was 4 years old, while attending preschool, I met this big blue eyed, blonde haired girl named Nancy. We became instant friends and loved our time together at school. 

One day while riding the little bus home from school, I was always dropped off first and Nancy second. I wanted to see where Nancy lived, so I hid behind a seat and Nancy told the bus driver, who thankfully was my great aunt, that I wasn't on the bus that day. As we proceeded to Nancy's house, we had to come clean with our little lie and tell Aunt Gloria that I was truly on the bus, but that I wanted to see where Nancy lived. She, of course, forgave us and dropped Nancy off and then proceeded to take me back home.  She never did tell my parents what the two of us had done. WHEW!

Now let's jump ahead to 7th grade and introduce friend number three, Lisa. She instantly jumped into our duo and we, along with others, spent the majority of our time in and out of school together. As the years have gone by, the others have fallen out of the picture, but the three of us have grown closer and closer.

Here is a picture of the three of us present day. Of course, our hair color has changed a bit in 45 years, but I think we are doing okay.The line up left to right is Lisa, me and Nancy!

Throughout high school, Nancy, Lisa and I continued to remain friends and participated in a lot of the same activities. Upon graduation, all three of us went in separate directions, but kept in touch every now and then. We grew closer through weddings, babies, divorce, death and aging parents.  

Jump ahead now to 2000. I moved back to our home town and built a house on my parents farm and have been raising my 4 children in the same area and school district that I grew up in.

17 years later, Lisa has now moved back home, just a little ways from where she grew up.

Nan is still where she has always lived since graduating college, which is only one hour away. 

So what do you do now that the trio is all back? You get together for a girl's weekend to celebrate. So, that's exactly what we did and headed to Lisa's house to help her unpack and decorate her home. That is something the three of us have in common, we love to work together on decorating projects. 

Here is a picture of Lisa's flower bed, absolutely huge and gorgeous. She has been working on this for years and it shows with all the beautiful colors and height. That is also something that the three of us have in common. We all have big flower beds and love digging in the dirt.

The weekend begins Saturday afternoon with absolutely nothing getting accomplished but hours of laughing, talking, sharing memories and truly enjoying being together. As we head to bed at the late hour of 11:00 PM, we decide that tomorrow has to involve some kind of productivity. 

I am the early riser in the group, so I head out to the front porch to have my coffee and soak up the beautiful view early Sunday morning.

As Lisa and Nancy join me with their own cups of coffee, we make plans to get the basement completely arranged and decorated. Our first order of business is furniture arrangement. Of course, the only way to figure this out is to actually move the furniture to where we "think" it might go and then reposition as necessary. Then we head to the walls and start hanging pictures. We were able to hang up all of the décor on each wall except for one.

We were all exhausted and so wonderfully pleased that we had two full days together, doing what we love. I ended the weekend by heading out to Lisa's flower bed to cut myself a fresh arrangement to take home.

As I was looking at all my choices for my bouquet, it reminded me of our friendship. In a flower bed you have a mixture of flowers planted. Some are annuals that you change out every year, and some are perennials that come back year after year, growing stronger and stronger, even throughout some tough storms.

I am blessed to have had these two in my life all of these years.  When I look at all the flags available from FlagsRUs, so many remind me of the closeness I have shared with these two.  They also make the perfect gift for the friend that has everything and they will love having a new flag to hang out every season and holiday.

Cherish your friendships, send an extra gift thanking your friend/s for all they have done for you! Check out www.FlagRUs.org to find that perfect gift for all of your individual needs and unique personalities that you like to buy for.

Happy Trail Farm says Good Morning Sunshine, and invites you over for a fresh cup of hot coffee, but of course, it has to be early early morning!