Family Friends

I've always understood the phrase family friends to mean those who are "friends of the family". But, as I've grown older, I've discovered a whole new meaning to the phrase. To me, family friends, means friends that FEEL just like your family. As a child, I remember that some of the best times were spent with family friends. Friends like these don't grow on trees, although since a lot of ours have moved away, I kind of wish they did. It would be nice on the lonely days to just step outside and pluck some off the branches and place them in our living room. In my selfish mind, I've also thought many times that there should be ridiculously large fines if you move to a different state. As far as I'm concerned, everyone should just stay in Illinois...in the suburbs! Sadly, that is not how things work. So, we have to settle for occasional visits. What's nice about family friends is that we always seem to pick up right where we left off. There is no awkardness...just laughter and understanding. Family friends love you for who you are and when you're with them, you can just be...


This weekend our family friends Ryan and Lauren came for a visit with their daughter Abby. Jon met Ryan as freshman at Wheaton College in 1995. I really just wanted to put one picture of them in here, but I couldn't pick just one:

On a college ski trip to Montana:



Not sure if Ryan is making this face because of the glasses Jon is wearing or the girl who is quite obviously not me...


Remember what I was saying about friends loving you for who you are?


I came into the picture a few years later in 1999 when I met Ryan at the local Outback Steakhouse where we both were working. LONG story short, he introduced me to Jon, we all went to Europe, and the rest is history.


After Jon and I got together, the three of us hung out on a pretty regular basis, but there was always something (or someone) missing. When I met Lauren in early 2005, I knew immediately the space was filled.

All of us camping in 2005 with our other family friends, Ben & Rebekah


Since then, our families have grown and we now have little family friends running around at our gatherings.

Calah and Abby...


Not sure why these are so small...





And...thanks to family, we can go out to dinner alone with family friends...



Anyway, as always, we had a great time. Now they just need to move back to Illinois so I don't have to buy a friend tree.