I have been close to the same group of friends for over 20 years now. Some of us are family by blood. Some of us are family by marriage. The rest of us are family by choice. We are all very close in age. There are boys (men now) that looked after my sister and I in our late teens and early 20's. They would fix our cars when they broke down or bring donuts over to our apartment some mornings. There are girls that I consider bonus sisters. (These girls are still married to my ex-husbands brothers and we are still family to one another to this day) A bunch of us all worked in the same restaurant as servers, bus boys, and bartenders, basically living our lives around each other while most finished college.

As a large group of co-ed friends, we would camp together, go to ball games together, BBQ/Picnic together, etc. We would go out partying & dancing till we closed the bar and then go out to breakfast at 2:00am. We all lived within 5 miles of each other. We would get together almost every weekend. Good times!

In a few short years, all but one of us got married. We took turns standing up in each others weddings. Our group of friends got bigger as each one of us gained a spouse. So many couples starting their new lives together. Me and two of my guy friends got married during one summer. All the bridal showers and weddings kept us close to one another.

In a few short years, we all started having kids. There were 3 babies being born every year for about 7 years straight. Baby shower after baby shower after baby shower. Christenings & Baptisms... 1st Birthday parties, 1st Communions... Confirmations. This was how we kept in touch and our families grew close.

A fews years after all the babies were born, we would each take a turn every month to have a party. The host would plan games/prizes for the kids. We'd play musical chairs, have scavenger hunts and throw water balloons in the summer. There would be pumpkin carving contents and touch football in the fall. Sometimes the party would be at someones house. Sometimes we'd all meet at a park. We all still live relatively close to one another. Our children have grown up together.

Four years ago, the chain of high school graduations for "our" children started with my oldest daughter being first in 2004, followed by her two cousins in 2006 and 2007.

Today, in the mail, was my first graduation invite for this year. I smiled as yet another of "our" children has reached that milestone. I'm excited to see my friends at the party as it was New Years Eve when most of us last saw each other as a group.

Graduation invitations will be coming in the mail for the next 7 years until the last of our babies has finished high school, followed shortly and sometimes overlapping, with wedding invitations and/or birth announcements from our older kids.

Good friends are a blessing.

Here are some us at this past New Years Eve. There was a huge snow storm that night and some families wisely, decided to stay home. I was the designated driver for my family. It was a complete white out on the way home. You couldn't see the lines of the lanes. You couldn't see the road. It took 1 1/2 hours to get home from my friend who lives 25 minutes away.

Funny side note: The three people standing in the back row stood up in my first wedding. That is my ex-husbands brother, his wife and one of my ex-husbands friends (who I got to keep custody of after the divorce, lol)