NOW AND THEN...

the movie NOW and then came out in 1995.

kristin and i went and saw it in the theatre with two other friends.

afterward we all had a slumber party at my house.

we spent the night making phone calls on my swatch phone, giggling, making pyramids,

and deciding who each of us were from the movie (i was "teeny" and kristin was "samantha").

more than fifteen years have passed since that night.

it was easy to imagine being the kids in the movie,

it was much harder to imagine ever being the adults.

but somewhere along the way that's what we became.

granted we didn't really turn out like teeny or samantha, but we are now the adults.

last week we got to have kristin and leighton stay with us for an entire week, and clay for the weekend too.

here are a few NOW and then tales that come to mind as i look at our pictures from their visit:

once upon a time we told each other stories of our first dates and first kisses, now

WE GET TO BE MARRIED TO THE AWESOME HUSBAND THAT WAS IN STORE FOR EACH OF US.

while they were in town the backseat was often whiny and noisy,

and we got stuck listening to elmo serenade us over the cd player, but-

WE GOT TO DRIVE AROUND TOWN LIVING OUR DREAM OF BEING MOMS TOGETHER.

our carefree, laying-out-at-the-pool days might be gone, but

WE WOULDN'T TRADE HOLDING THOSE LITTLE HANDS THAT SPLASH US FOR ANYTHING.

we used to double date to chuy's and leisurely eat chips and jalapeño ranch on the weekends, now

WE GET SEATED IN THE KID SECTION AND ARE A VERY BUSY TABLE OF 7 (ALMOST 8)

BUT THERE'S NO DENYING THE INCREDIBLE BLESSINGS THAT SAT AROUND IT. 

we can remember our half birthdays when my mom would

take the carpool crew for ice cream after tennis practice, now-

WE MAKE HOMEMADE ICE CREAM SANDWICHES FOR VERY SPECIAL ONE AND A HALF YEAR OLDS.

we spent many summer days together attempting to stay cool at camp and on vacation,

IT APPEARS OUR KIDS WILL COME UP WITH SOME ORIGINAL IDEAS OF THEIR OWN.

back in the day we consumed cajun cones as often as possible.

now we don't have daily access to our snow cones of choice, but

WE STILL STRICTLY ENFORCE A MINIMUM OF ONE FROZEN DRINK A DAY RULE.

we used to stay up late playing truth or dare and looking at yearbooks now-

WE PUT THE KIDS TO BED AND STAY UP PLAYING MONOPOLY DEAL.

WE LOVE YOU DEARLY FULGHUMS.

thank you for your friendship NOW and then.