Skip to main content

Silver and Gold

This is a guest post by Rose, from It's My Life. I'm participating in The Blog Exchange today, and you can find me at Rose's spot. Read on below, and enjoy her great post.

The green numbers on the alarm clock glow brightly in the dark room. 2:13 a.m. The baby is whining in her bassinet, she’s only moments away from a complete meltdown. I blink myself awake and I hoist myself out of bed, gather the swaddled child into my arms and head into the living room where I click the computer to life as I settle myself on the couch.

Even before Little L has latched on, an Instant Message window pops open; a friend in France is checking up on me. You would think I would be annoyed about being up in the middle of the night, but I secretly enjoy the late night feedings. It’s the perfect time to connect with some of my oldest friends. I type updates to the sweet sound of the gentle slurping. I discuss husbands and friends. I give advice and I receive friendly words of wisdom. I learn about the trials and tribulations of the lives they are living so far away from me. And all too soon the baby is done and I log off again with a final bonne journée. By the time I get up again, my friends will be busy with their evening routines, too preoccupied to chat.

I grew up in France. I didn’t move stateside until I was well into my twenties. These friends I chat with are my oldest and truest confidantes. I’ve made new friends here in California; some through work, some through acquaintances, and even some through the computer. I love these new friends. They are the ones I rely on to get my through the week. We chat on the phone; vent about the day to day stuff. We go out, we play. They are here, in this world I have created in the Bay Area, but they don’t know me the way my old friends know me.

My local friends don’t know about my high school and college years. They don’t know my family. They weren’t around when I broke up with my first boyfriend, or the second one for that matter. They don’t know how I became me. They do know my kids and my husband. They know what I like to eat, and where I like to shop. They know when I have tedious meetings, or big scary doctor’s appointments. They know who I am now.

When I think of all these friends sprinkled around the globe I can’t help but think of the old adage. “Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, but the other’s gold.” These people, be they local or on the other side of the world, they’re all my peeps, my homeys, my pals. Our collective memory and the story we are weaving defines me. They’re love is what keeps me going. They’re the reason I shine.

This was a guest post written by Rose at It’s My Life... in honor of this month’s blog exchange. When I’m not busy working, cooking, running after my toddler, C, or nursing the new baby Little L, I’m usually hiding in the bathroom thinking up my next blog post or trying to read a chapter or two of the book I’m currently wading through. When I do come up with something witty to write about, you can read it here where your usual blogger extraordinaire is blogging today. Go on over and read her post and don’t forget to check out all the other blog exchange posts this month!

Comments

I really enjoyed this beautifully written post, and can relate to a lot of it.

Thank you Rose and thank you Julie!

Heidi :)
Lovely, lovely post. Friends are precious indeed.
Kellan said…
Rose, this was such a nice post and I was sitting right there with you in front of your computer, baby in arms ... reaching out to a friend. Nicely written. Thanks
Jenn said…
:) here's to the peeps, homeys and pals! lovely post.
Heather said…
How cool to have friends overseas to chat with at night.
Jessica R. said…
Thank you everyone for the kind comments!
And thank you Julie for being such a great host!
jeanie said…
That was gorgeous - and it was wonderful how you both had the same theme but such different experiences and different takes, really.

Popular posts from this blog

Cancer's Calling Card

Foreword: I'm not a medical person, or any kind of expert. This post shouldn't be taken as God's word carved in stone by Moses. In other words, don't consider it to be any kind of authority or use it to treat, diagnose, or select medications. Do your own research and talk to your doctor, an actual expert, who, you know, went to medical school and stuff. This post is merely my best understanding of cancer and cancer treatment and prevention, as related to our situation, based on what I've learned from reading and talking to doctors. Author's Note: If you aren't interested in the cancer discussion and the things I learned, and only want to know the outcome of our appointment with the oncologist yesterday, skip to the end. I've divvied this up by sections, so go to the last section. What would you do if one day a postcard arrived in the mail to warn you that sometime in the next three years you would be diagnosed with cancer? Would you believe it? Change an

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Quorum

After being confronted with written evidence, Julie admits that she is a total attention whore. In some things, in some ways, sometimes I look outward for validation of my worth and existence. I admit it. It's my weak spot, my vanity spot . If you say I am clever, comment on a post, offer me an award, mention me on your blog, reply to a comment I left on your blog, or in any way flatter me as a writer...I am hopelessly, slavishly devoted to you. I will probably even add you to my blogroll just so everyone can see the list of all the cool kids who actually like me . The girl, she knows she is vain in this regard , but after much vanity discussion and navel-gazing , she has decided to love herself anyway, as she is (ironically) and will keep searching for (1) internal validation and (2) her first person . Until I reach a better point of self-actualization, though, may I just say that this week you people have been better than prozac and chocolate (together, with a side of white choc

In defense of vanity...I think

Do you have one of those issues where you argue with yourself? Where you just aren't sure what you actually think because there are so many messages and opinions on the topic around you? I have more than one like this. However, there is one topic that has been struggling to the top of my mind recently: vanity and perceived vanity. Can vanity be a good thing? Vanity has historically been truly reviled. Vanity is number seven of the Seven Deadly Sins. It's the doppleganger of number seven on the Seven Holy Virtues list: humility. There are many moralistic tales of how vanity makes you evil and brings about a spectacular downfall. Consider the lady who bathed in the blood of virgins to maintain her youth. Google Borgia+vanity and find plenty. The Brothers Grimm and Disney got in on the act too. The Disney message seems to be: the truly beautiful don't need to be vain. They are just naturally eye-catchingly gorgeous. And they are all gorgeous. Show me the Reubenesque Princess.