my other family

anyone who knows my group of friends agrees that we are like no other. we are truly-like a family. we are a group of about 15 or so from high school that are still best friends. we have dated and slept with eachother (some of us anyway...), we have been thru marriages, friendships, babies, death, drama (!!), moving across the country-and we have remained like a family. i try to explain our relationship to people-but i dont think they will ever really get it. i love these guys like my own. seriously. even the ones i have dated. thats all, and i mean all in the past. ya know? like-i have tried to explain it to kelly-how important they to me. but he doesnt get it. and i know i shouldnt, but i take it personally. its like a direct insult to a family member...these people are people who have seen me at my worst. they have picked me up when i couldnt walk anymore. theyve been there for the birth of my first child. theyve been there when my parents moved-and i had no one. they helped me pick up the pieces when jae's dad and i broke up-and (at the time) i thought my world was coming to an end...even though i am states away now, i remain just as close. i dont talk to some as often-but it doesnt change anything-id do anything for them and they for me. i vividly remember being the only mom of the group (still am except for one other)-but never felt like it. the boys would fight over who got to hold or feed the girls...jaelynn is always sooo excited to go to 'home' to atlanta to see all her other 'aunts' and 'uncles'.

i once had a girlfriend in college who met our 'group' and she was blown away by our relationship. she envied it, said shed never seen anything like it. she couldnt believe that we'd all been best friends since the beginning of high school-some even longer. and to this day-we all remain that way. sure, we are all starting to get married, have our own families-but the fact remains that no one understands our love for eachother like we do....i wish i could put into words-but i cant....