About a hundred years ago when I was a Brownie…

There was a song that went like this…

• Make new friends but keep the old.
• One is silver & the other gold.

That was looping through my head the other day while I was baking cupcakes with a young friend of mine. TK Madison loves triple chocolate fudge cupcakes with white frosting which is why we were in the kitchen together, licking our fingers & the frosting knives & chatting about life in general.

“You know”, he said, “Real friends have no butts.”

Since we all know that conversations with 10 year old boys can turn gross in the blink of an eye, my momentary silence will come as no surprise. It too a few more moments of frosting licking before I found the courage to ask, “How is that?” Here’s his explanation…

Some people say “I will be your friend but you have to hang out with me…or…I’ll be your friend but you have to stop talking to Jennifer.” They are not your real friends because they just want to change you.

(I was relieved not to be talking about gross 10-year-old-boy Butts…just regular buts.)

So I asked him how you would know a real friend, TK gave me 2 more litmus tests.

He said real friends also don’t have any “ifs“…like, “I’ll be your friend if you do my homework for me. They are not real friends because they only want you to do something for them. TK’s last real friend test is the “and” test. “And” friends say things like “I’ll be your friend and you have to give me your lunch money.” They are not your real friends because they only want you to give them stuff.

TK Madison’s moral lesson on friendship…

True friends are friends with no “ifs”, “ands”, or “buts”.

An altogether lovely afternoon with a cutie pie (don’t even think about telling him I said that). Good gooey cupcakes & a great life lesson from the mouths of babes.

The whole conversation started me thinking about the friends I have in my life. Some are new & some are old like the Brownie song. Some are young & some are not. Some know Torch Lake & some don’t. I have friends who vote differently, wear different clothes, dream different dreams & sing different songs. Some have large gregarious families & some have large hearts. They come in every shape, size, color, gender, & shoe size & I’m so lucky to have them in my life.

To all of you I say “Thank you” & I love you. You push & stretch me, comfort & console me, & make me laugh. You have watched me stumble, fumble, swoop & soar. You are, quite simply, the chocolate cupcakes of my soul with extra icing!!!

Best of all…not one of you comes with any “BUTS”!

With Love from the Lake!

Me…I’m off for a romp with a couple of old friends!!!