Wedding Blog

Picture courtesy of www.kiddlywinks.com

Way back around the time I started blogging in the fall, I wrote about a falling out I had with a person I referred to as my best friend. The thing I’ve come to learn about friends is, the real ones, the ones who love you and care about your happiness are the ones who will stand by you and be there for you. Which is why, with the wedding coming up, I wanted to share a story of someone who has been like that for me for a long time now - my friend Oscar.

Oscar and I became friends in the first grade. I instigated our friendship when, on school picture day, I asked for his phone number* (I was a very bold six year old) and we started to talk outside of school. Being the little social coordinator, I soon invited his parents over to my parents’ house for tea one weekend and after that, our families became close. During school breaks, I would often stay over at his house and during the summer, we would all go camping together for vacation. From grade one to grade five, we were the best of friends and I often thought of his family as an extension of my own.

Then in the sixth grade, something sad happened. His dad, under the threat of unemployment, began looking for a new job and, around Christmastime, we found out that his family was going to be moving to rural Alberta, a five hour plane ride away. When he called me to tell me on the phone, we both burst into tears.

But, in spite of the distance, we managed to stay in touch, writing letters every month and planning trips out to see each other. There might have been thousands of miles between us, but I always knew I could count on him. He was there for me when I had my heart broken for the first time and when my dad lost his job, and I was there for him when his childhood dog died and when he broke up with his high school girlfriend.

Like any relationship, ours went through bumps here and there (when we were 18, we got in a stupid argument during one of my trips out to Alberta and didn’t talk for a few months), but we both felt like the friendship was important and worth fighting for, so we worked through things together.

When Mr. Hum and I got engaged, he was one of the first people I told, and next month, almost 20 years after we first became friends, he and his mom are flying across the country to be there at my wedding. It might make me sound like a dork, but when I got his RSVP card in the mail, I did a happy little dance, I was so excited. Seriously? Best! Present! Ever!

So, because I’m in a marshmallow mood and because my last friendship post was kind of a downer, I want to hear some of your great friendship stories. Do you have an old friend coming to your wedding? Share some love and tell me about them.

* I still remember that phone number.