Reasons Why - A day 20 years in the making

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending a wedding of a close friend of mine. A friend that I made just weeks after my family had moved to Citrus County. A friend who I had the pleasure of going to school with from elementary to high school graduation day and then we attended Florida State University together. Almost 20 years this girl has been a part of my life. When you are only 28, 20 years is a long time.
I thought about other weddings I have attending in my life. With the exception of a few aunts and uncles who by default have known me since birth no other wedding I have ever attended encompassed what I consider a life long relationship as this.
It was almost surreal to sit there in the audience at this wedding. To watch as the same Pastor who baptized us decades ago was now performing a wedding ceremony. To sit there amongst parents of our other friends who carted us to the movies before we could drive and chaperoned our school field trips. To watch my friend’s sister (who coincidentally is my best friend of all time) dressed to the nines stand there as maid of honor like we had talked about since we were little. To see her parents beaming with pride as any parent would be on a day such as this. To sit with friends who had been there for each other at many other major life milestones.
My mind then wandered to my close circle of friends. The overwhelming majority of whom I made while growing up in Citrus County. I remember someone once told me, “You’ll make your best friends in college.” they had said. Not this girl, all my best friends came from childhood.
Is this a standard of small town life? Who knows? But what I do know is this, I’m thankful for my close group of friends who have been there for me throughout my life. I’m thankful that 20 years later we are still a part of each others lives and look forward to the next 20 years. Citrus County was the vessel that brought our lives together, and for that I’ll add it to the list of reasons why.