#26 Popcorn, Kool-Aid and Sunday Night Sleepovers

Melody, Amy, Emily and I

Pretty much every summer Sunday night during my middle school years were spent at the White's house with Amy, Melody, and Emily.  Amy and Melody's little sister Beth was there too of course but she was several years younger than us so she only hung out with us until it was time for her to go to bed (or we started talking about something like kissing boys which grossed her out and she would leave and not join us again til the next morning.)

We usually hung out in Melody's room and we always had popcorn and kool-aid. We would stay up into the early hours of the morning talking, laughing and of course eating pop corn!  We would talk about whatever boys we liked at the time, what we were looking forward to doing with our youth group and all kinds of other things teenage girls talk about.  We would make up stories about us and the boys we liked, one person would start and then we would take turns adding to the story.  Amy was the smart one and she never really liked any boys while we were in middle school so her part of the story would always be about going to get some sort of food, typically breadsticks or watermelon. On Monday mornings after our sleepovers we would sometimes make really cheesy, soap opera like movies.  They were full of drama, mystery and more drama!
      

There was a really strong bond that formed during those summer sleepovers.  To this day I consider those girls some of the closest friends I've ever had.  I do still get to see Amy and Melody several times a year so it has been easier for us to remain close, but I haven't seen Emily since I got married five and half years ago.  However I know that even though a lot of time has passed the next time we get to see each other we will be able to pick up right where we left off and if I ever needed Emily's help I know she would be there for me.

I think what has made our bond so strong was not all the talk about crushes we had, the giggling over silly stories, and shockingly enough, it was not even the fun we had creating our mini soap opera movies.  What has made our friendship so strong that it endures to this day as one of the most special friendships I believe I will ever have is the spiritual connection we shared.  Melody and Emily were  my first peers to model for me what it meant to pursue a daily walk with Christ.  They were the first teenagers I'd ever been around who actually did a quiet time.  I didn't even know what a quiet time or devotional time looked like before I started 7th grade.  What was really cool was that they never sat me down and told me, this is what a quiet time looks like and this is what you need to start doing.  They were just very genuine in their walk with Christ and what they were doing and learning in their daily times with God came out in regular conversation.  They weren't overbearing or arrogant about their walk with the Lord. They were real and they were different, and I wanted to be able to have a deeper relationship with Christ like they did.  I wanted Christ to make me different, and for people to see that Christ was at work in my life so that they would want to know Jesus personally too.

By normal standards many people would have considered this an unusual friendship.  You see Melody and Emily were two and four grades older than Amy and I.  Most juniors and freshmen in high school have no desire to hang out with seventh graders on a regular basis.  There can be a pretty big maturity gap in those years, but Melody and Emily over looked those gaps and they embraced us.  The invested in us, made us feel welcome in our youth group and treated us as equals.  They encouraged us and helped us learn not only what it meant to walk with Christ daily but also to lead, and to be bold in our faith.  I am so thankful for their example and for their friendship.  I'm sure there were many people their own age they could have been hanging out with on those Sunday nights but they choose to hang out with us and I know my life has been forever changed by their friendship over the past 17 and 18 years. I was so proud to be in each one of their weddings and to have all three of them stand up next to me in my wedding.  I love those girls so much and I pray that my children will have friends like I did who will invest in them and stand by them as they try to live their lives for Christ.