May 8, 2008 @ 3:00 pm | Filed under: Friends

On the list of all the things that I treasure most, the friendships in my life are certainly at the top of that list.

I love to meet new people, and make new friends, because that’s a sign of growth and of expanding the borders of our lives. As we grow older, we gradually learn that we share bits and pieces of ourselves with many different people, and in many different ways.

But I also greatly treasure the friendships that go back…way back.

One of these special relationships is my friendship with Kathy.  Even though we live several hundred miles apart now, the friendship we shared as little girls has only deepened and matured with the passing of time. I had the opportunity to catch up with her this past week when I accompanied Mike to Houston for the OTC Conference. While he worked and walked the tradeshow at the Reliant Center, I relished this unexpected time with a dear friend.

Kathy had suggested we meet at a restaurant in Uptown Park. As I drove into the exclusive shopping area, I thought about how on any ordinary day these shops would have provided a mecca of retail therapy to wile away the afternoon. Today, they still looked intriguing but that wasn’t where my head was. I didn’t want to shop. I only looked forward to sharing good food and great conversation with an old friend.

I arrived first and spotted her the minute she walked up the sidewalk and to the front door of the restaurant. The first thing I noticed was how fantastic she looked. Expecting her first child, she is co-owner of a great little coffee shop and works there herself about ten hours a week while working her (day) job in the financial offices of a large Houston pediatric cancer hospital. I’m pretty sure she’s in the running for Wonder Woman of the Year.

We began to talk as we were led to our table and we didn’t stop talking for over two hours. Long after we’d finished our salads and tea, we continued to sit and chat and catch up on one another’s lives.

I’ve known Kathy since we were both five or six years old and in kindergarten. Even though we never went to school together (she attended parochial schools, I went to public school) we spent many of our available waking minutes together during our growing up years.

We lived just down the street from one another on Bayshore until we were both about eighteen. Through the years, we’ve talked through just about every major life decision with the other and have always found a true confidante in one another. We can go for weeks and - many times -  months without so much as an email or phone call and then dive right back into conversation as though we’d never had a lull.

Having these couple of days to catch up and spend time with Kathy was an unexpected oasis in my busy life, and a much needed one. And if you live in the Houston area, or the next time you’re through there on a visit, make sure you stop in at Fill Your Cup. It is an amazing coffee shop where the coffee is great, the employees are warm and welcoming, and the owner is an exceptional person.

And…my friend.