The Friendship Wreath and a Girl Scout Song

{photos by Leonel Medrano, who took our wedding photos, and post-processing by me}

I've been searching for a term to describe my group of friends for ages, but I've never been able to come up with a catchy catch-phrase.  I've considered "gaggle," "pod," and an analogy to a wheel with spokes that connect the inner and outer parts (don't know why that one didn't catch on...).  But these have only been successful in evoking images of geese, marine life, and cavemen.  What?  You don't get the caveman reference?  Well my inner dialogue is just weirder than yours.  Deal.

Anyway, my friend Caroline has gone and made my struggle look completely pathetic by easily and wittily coining the term "friendship wreath."  Meditate on that for a second because it's perfect.  It encompasses the connectedness, and how there's no beginning and no end (...I think that's from a Girl Scout song...), and it doesn't conjure images of the animal kingdom or prehistoric life.  And wreaths are just so festive.  So wreath it is.  Finally, closure to a pressing issue in my life. 

In case you're having trouble visualizing, here's a pic of me, Caroline, and Leslie being friends.  With one more head, we would actually be in wreath formation.

BUT WAIT.  It gets better.  Here's the Girl Scout song I was thinking of!!!  Oh, the good ol' days of competitive badge-acquiring and cookie solicitation!  I'm reprinting the lyrics here for your personal nostalgia.  (If you missed out on the Girl Scout experience, please imagine this being sung in a round by a group of gangly 10 year olds with messy hair and green vests for authenticity purposes.)

"Make New Friends"

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

A circle is round,
it has no end.
That's how long,
I will be your friend.

A fire burns bright,
it warms the heart.
We've been friends,
from the very start.

You have one hand,
I have the other.
Put them together,
We have each other.

Silver is precious,
Gold is too.
I am precious,
and so are you.

You help me,
and I'll help you
and together
we will see it through.

The sky is blue
The Earth is green
I can help
to keep it clean

Across the land
Across the sea
Friends forever
We will always be

Gotta love the two-unrelated-thoughts-followed-by-a-friendship-rhyme technique.  But really, what is up with that random plug for the environment in the second to last stanza?  I mean, I'm all about the earth being green and the sky being blue, but I've never associated eco-friendliness with friendship....

....Then again, I associate wheels with cavemen.