Friends, ten years and counting

Last weekend was a monumental weekend for my favorite friends. I am lucky to have managed to keep the same great group of friends since eighth grade. A whole decade has gone by and even though we live in different cities, we still keep in touch. We regularly talk and share what’s going on in our various cities.
Last weekend four of us got together and helped our friend Manoj celebrate his 23rd birthday. Vineet took a bus into Philly from State College, Neil came up by bus from DC and Manoj’s brother came down from New York. Unfortunately, one invaluable member couldn’t make it. Ryan had a gig with the awesome country band he’s been playing with.
Even though not all of us could make it, I wanted to celebrate the bond that keeps all of us together. No matter what, it seems we’ll always have each other. We’ve kept our friendship important and I hope it stays that way.

A friend recently pointed out to me that she liked the “before and after” photos of us as a group. Here are some of those pictures from the recent times we’ve managed to all get together in one place. It hasn’t always been easy to get us all together, but I’m glad that every once in a while we make an effort to do it. I’d do anything for these guys and I hope that we never grow apart.
Manoj, Ryan, Neil, Vineet, this is for you guys.

Also, upon closer inspection of one of these photos, I laughed when I noticed a certain “occasion cake” in the foreground.