Old Friend; Old Song; Fresh Memories

This song was written (and sent to me) for my 21st birthday, and I remembered it and dug it up on a break from studying tonight. I'm posting it here because it makes my heart happy...and because I like to remember how incredibly loving my friends are. I often post things I "don't want to forget," because if I have them all in one spot, I won't.

Before I left Baylor, all our closest friends gathered around by candlelight and on couches for hours and hours, and we wrote letters to each other so that, when we were apart and feeling lonely, we'd be able to re-read and remember how dearly we're all loved by the crew. I wrote a post about that night, and you can read it here. 

A thousand thanks to my dear friend, Oliver Ha, for this sweet song.

Lyrics are below.

A story for a friend. 

One, she's barely walking but she's talking off your ear
The way she was back then's not much different from today. 
Sitting in her daddy's lap she's smiling watching the world around her change
It's been a whole year since that 18th day of May

Eight the wrapping's coming off her presents 'neath the tree
She's wearing footies and the camera's on record
That famous laugh is pouring out her like an April evening's rain
Her eyes are shining on the birthday of our Lord

Eighteen and she's leaving from that town where she grew up
Childhood friends say their goodbyes at the front door
The English pastures will feel different from those three sisters peaks for sure, 
But she won't call them her only home now anymore. 

Oh when did all this time pass by, and where did it all go, 
Moments in life they never last long as we like
Oh to be Peter Pan and His Lost Boys who never say goodbye
These thoughts race through her head as she lays it down that night

Nineteen brings the lone star state and thoughts of being alone 
this school is surely just a place to get a job, 
I won't have friends or like a single soul, at least that's what she thought
Until that Bree-Girl came into class burning hot. 

Twenty and she's just met boys in-a Paint-Run's early morn,
The walls around her heart seem-to-be opened up wide, 
To let these strangers in and take her on a wild ride
She wouldn't like 'em if she never even tried

Twenty and a few months past the summers in full swing
She came to see a boy to set a few things right, 
He didn't say much and she wished he-would-just look her In the eyes 
The car ride home took all her strength and all her might. 

Oh where is all this headed one more year left at this place, 
Moments in life don't always turn out like we wish, 
Oh to have a crystal ball to see into the future's mist 
She prays for God to bring her peace in all of this.

August and it's back to school she visits her old friends 
One of them says hes got two lads she should meet 
One's from Colorado and the other's off the Street
They call her JJ and invite her o'er to eat. 

Add that bree-girl to the mix and a DJ right on too ;), 
Those six would never seem to be too long apart, 
They love to laugh and sing and dance and loved her right from the first start 
How they'd find a special place inside her heart

Mountains, rooftops, dining tables dances all for naught, 
It ain't where you are oh darling it's who you're with, 
They could have watched Les Mis together on the corner of La Salle and Fifth
It made her happier than a princess in a myth. 

Oh when did all that time pass and where do we go from here
Moments in life don't always give us enough time, 
Oh to hear our favorite song again, to hear our favorite rhyme, 
Rivers and roads til I reach you and it's all fine. 

Twenty one years old today you'll be @missjordanjean my friend
You may feel a little elderly I'm sure, 
Know you've got a smile as bright as gold and beauty that endures
You will be young as long as you keep your heart pure. 

Twenty one and you still laugh as if you'd fall out of your chair
Couldn't watch a scary movie if you tried
And you love lucky charms with those marshmallows on the side
Oh I'd be rich if I'd a nickel each time you cried. 

Yet we love those things about you Jordan Richerson my friend
Please know that fact will always be found to be true, 
Even though we're not together in the way that we once knew, 
We'd like to say a Happy Birthday to you.