I still count my three high school besties among my closest friends. That first picture was taken at a trip before our freshman year of high school and the second at my wedding.

A lot has changed over the past couple years and there was a lot to celebrate this summer. Rachel had a new job, I finished my masters, Megan was taking medical boards (and just got engaged!), and Susannah is expecting her first child. We had always talked on going on another trip together and it seemed like this was our shot.  What started as a little bit of a crazy idea back in March became reality in a span of about 12 hours.  At the last minute  Megan had to move her exams and miss our trip (insert weeping and gnashing of teeth), but Suze, Rachel, and I met up on Sunday for a wild week in Fort Lauderdale.Don’t get any crazy ideas about this wild week. Our version of yolo is more like this than the traditional understanding. The great thing about people that you have been besties with forever is that you have nothing left to prove. Our week included such pursuits as cheering our way through Pitch Perfect (ok, and watching every single special feature and re-watching multiple scenes), attending a timeshare talk for some free brunch and a gift card (where we were held hostage for over three hours by a crazy Russian salesman named Boris despite our pleas that we weren’t interested in buying), driving extra loops around the parking lot just so we could finish singing along to that super catchy One Direction song (yep, just admitted that on the internet), and staying in most nights to eat sandwiches and watermelon because we like being in our jammies. This club be bouncin’, and by club I mean a non-profit worker, a grad student, and a pregnant women, and by bouncin’, I mean hanging out and avoiding dangerous activities.  There might have even been a moment when Suze and I sang a rousing, full-length rendition of “Part of your world,” that culminated in me being knocked over by a wave on the last note and another moment where we heated up three-day-old pizza in our room, cut it in tiny chunks, and called it an appetizer.  Yep, we are pretty wild.

We were also the only people hitting the south Florida beaches in swimsuits that covered most of our torsos, not to mention our backsides.  Have you seen that video that is going around the internet? I am not opposed to a tasteful two-piece, but I totally had a moment where I felt like a mom and wanted to go explain to some young girls in thongs and not much else about things like dignity and self respect, not to mention health and the benefits of sunscreen.  Do these people not realize that skin cancer is not a joke? How embarrassing will it be when they have to have cancerous moles removed from not only their stomachs, but their butts too? Despite my pasty person predisposition to burns, I managed to avoid a sunburn until the last day left me a little rosy, thanks to my sunhat, shades, and vigorous sunscreen regimen. And yes, I do sound like I am 55, but I can’t hide my true self. I should also confess that I lectured a child in the resort pool about appropriate manners. There is just something so special, so unique, so right about vacation with your besties. I’ve been on trips to the beach with these girls since we were awkward 13 year-olds, and the form of these vacations hasn’t changed much. Yes, we can now drive the rental car and order those fancy cocktails with the little umbrellas, but that’s about all. We still stay up talking, eat way too much, laugh loudly, and spend a lot of time marveling at how much we love each other. We still share our fears and dreams for the future and wonder what things will be like when we grow up. We still take this break from everyday life to share what life has been since we were last together, to rejoice in what it is now, and to pray for what it is to become. So thankful that in the fourteen years of being friends and having so much change, so much more hasn’t changed.