A lifetime's not too long

See those two girls up there? When this photo was taken they had met only four years before but had become the best of friends. They had spent countless hours talking, laughing, hurting, pranking, growing and learning. They were about to embark on very different lives as actual grown-ups in the cold, cruel world. They made the usual promises that they would always keep in touch and stay friends forever. They hugged and said their goodbyes and vowed to see each other soon.

One moved to a different town, the other to a different state. They both got jobs, husbands, children and mortgages. Those girls have lived a lot of life since that picture was taken but the one thing they haven't done is broken their promises. They might not see each other very often, but when they do it's as though no time has passed at all. One of them is 40 and the other one is barrelling towards it full speed ahead, but last weekend they were both 18 again.

I was so excited when Tammy and her family came to spend a couple of days with us. We hadn't seen each other in almost two years but thanks to blogging, email and Facebook we've managed to stay caught up on each other's lives. Still, nothing can take the place of being in the same room scouring over yearbook pictures, reading old letters and watching video tapes of humiliations past. It was wonderful to spend that time together but it was even more special to watch our daughters play. Neither of us were very kid-minded in college so it was kind of surreal to watch our children getting to know one another. They became fast friends and bonded over common interests like Barbie, Hannah Montana and fashionable hats. (Tammy's poor son was trapped in girl world with little to do but watch Disney Channel. Fortunately, he loves dogs so Molly found herself the center of attention much of the time.)

Of course, the whole weekend couldn't be a walk down memory lane so we added a little variety to the visit. It was decided prior to their arrival that one must-see attraction was Miley Cyrus' house. It's just a few miles down the road and Little Ocho couldn't wait to show her new friend our little town's claim to fame. As we headed off with the girls, I was trying to difuse any impending disappointment by explaining that you can't actually see the house from the road and Miley was back in California. (Tammy had warned me that the Princess was fully expecting to see Miley and maybe hang out while doing each other's hair.) I announced the main goal was to get a sweet picture of the girls in front of her gate and then the princess could go home and brag to all her friends that she knew where Miley lives. Once we were there we got a couple of shots when I decided that the girls should sit on the fence with the winding drive behind them. After all, nobody was home and even if they were, our family has contributed a sizable amount to the Cyrus empire over the years and a piece of that fence surely belongs to us. Little Ocho was immediately terrified of getting in trouble while Tammy's Princess seemed more interested in actually jumping the fence and making a run for the house.

Once we had them in position I snapped the picture and noticed someone headed down the driveway on a 4-wheeler. I panicked and yelled for the girls to get down when the boy in the driveway stopped and waved politely. I realized it was Miley's brother and told the girls to wave back at him. The Princess assumed it was Jackson from the TV show and got really, really excited.

Here are our illegal trespassers:

On Sunday we took them to church where Big Nanny snapped this picture of us all together. What a difference 18 years can make:

In some ways it feels like a hundred years have passed. In other ways it feels like only yesterday we were in our dorm room plotting our next practical joke, eating candy and watching "Top Gun". We may look and feel a little older but inside not much has changed. Once our weekend was over we hugged and said our goodbyes and vowed to see each other soon. And I have no doubt we will.