Old Friends

This week I was in a wedding for the sixth time. After being a bridesmaid that many times I am starting to feel like a wedding professional. The movie “27 Dresses” is a little bit reminiscent of my life, or at least I like to joke that it is.

This week’s bride was Lindsay Sharpe a good friend from high school. We’ve been friends for nearly 9 years and although the frequency of hanging out has dwindled in the past few years, no matter how long it has been we can always pick back up where we left off. 

This weekends wedding was awesome on many levels. I was able to catch up with good friends from high school that I haven’t been able to see very often anymore. It is always an interesting experience being around the same crowd you often were with 5 years ago. It takes you back to who you were and what you cared about 5 years ago. Sometimes the easiest way to remember who we once were is be around the people that surrounded us then. 

Stories flow, memories are relived, feelings of days gone by fill our laughs and smiles. We get to take a new look on life. A look of who we are now and how far we have come. Have we become the people we’ve always thought we would be, or have we become strangers of who we used to be?

I think we like to imagine that we establish our own identity and that nothing could change that. I’m learning that those thoughts aren’t necessarily true.  I’m finding the people and places we surround ourselves with in life are so true to our identity. Which always makes it interesting when you find yourself hanging out with old friends or different groups of people.

Here’s a thought: how many personalities do you have? Sound crazy? Just take a moment and think, how differently do you act when you spend time with different sets of people? From family, to school friends, work friends, old friends, new friends, acquaintances, strangers: who do you become?