Trading secondhand stories like currency
Laughter erupting around the fire
What an incomparable treasure life has given me
These souls that surround me, their voices a united choir
Here we are, walking down memory lane
On the off chance we'll run into one another
It will survive our forebears, against any trial this bond will remain
Old enough to know our youthful quarrels made me tougher than others
I listen intently to the advice you share, the jokes you tell, every use of phrase
Hoping to learn a thing or two myself
Spent heat filled summers wishing we could reach our older days
Now we reminisce on the simplicity of life when it was only the world vs ourselves
I'd dress for combat against a common enemy, my loyalty stretching a thousand miles
Give me shelter from the hurricanes of reality
Can we push each other on carts down grocery store aisles?
Even states away, you attempt to shield me from villainous brutalities
Smile at the mass collection of our youthful pictures,
Is there a better me than the version I am when we're together?
Our personality potions concocted with such different mixtures
A storm that would sink any friendship is no match to what our ship can weather
I called your name several times, aren't you just down the hall?
Now I go through airport security just to hear your laugh
The only earthly form of unconditional love that exists south of the wall
Paddling through space and time aboard this raft
Born under a lucky star, to share this life with each of you
Can you protect me from those who intend to cause me harm?
And when life leaves me feeling a melancholy blue,
Pinky promise to pick me up and carry me through, linked arm in arm
Let's play hide n' seek in the dark
Do you really have to move away?
Watch me grow older, stoking the flames of this inner spark
The nostalgia that accompanies age, think fondly of when we saw each other everyday
The gift of past, present, and future - you're all of the above
We are the same in such drastically different ways
Proof that the greatest of these is love
I swear to always invite you in from the freezing rain
Hop in the truck, everyone's running late for school
Pushing the stereo to full blast on the whole ride there
Tell me what the older girls are wearing so I can stroll junior high hallways looking cool
Pull on your boots, put on your hat, it's time to show out for the county fair
Through my eyes, each the best people I'll ever know
Betting my net worth of five dollars that I could run faster than you
Help me get through these mistakes I've made, the ones I reap and must sow
Show me no dream is unattainable, teach me there's nothing I can't do
No you can't have my last french fry or borrow my shirt,
But with no hesitation to keep you safe, I'd jump in front of a moving train
Our roots remain as one, planted in the same pecan orchard dirt
We'll know each other as we have always been, with no need to explain
The first souls I want to tell when my cup runneth over
The first ones I lean on to help shoulder my burdens
Years imprint our skin like tattoos, the passing of time only bringing us closer
Bonded by chance, friends by choice - until life closes her curtain