"Make New Friends,

But keep the old ones.

One is silver and the other is gold."

Maybe it's been one too many girl scout cookies this weekend - but the song keeps re-playing in my head. I remember my mother singing this song, and I'll be honest - at six - I probably didn't know what she was talking about.

I'm convinced that friends come in and out of our collective lives for reasons that I do not deem to understand. Old friends that you believed would watch your children grow up turn out to be people you don't know very well. New friends that you swore drove you up the wall turn out to be more understanding and supportive than you care to admit. It's all a matter of timing - and I swear, what God wants you to learn - at any given point in a relationship.

One is silver, the other is gold. What's before silver? What's after gold?