NATCHEZ — Iesha Conner and Ashley King know best friends are difficult to find and even harder to keep, especially after high school.

The two longtime friends, who met at Natchez High School and stayed in touch after graduating in 2007, say the key to keeping friends after high school ends is making a conscious effort.

“You just have an effort to see each other,” King said. “We don’t see each other a lot, but we do make time when we can.”

With jobs and five children between the two of them, making time is a big effort.

When The Dart landed on College Street Thursday, it found the two friends enjoying the afternoon chatting outside and watching their children play.

Conner and King caught up on the latest happenings in their lives and talked about parenting concerns, from school to mosquito-bite remedies.

King said she was happy that her children, Akyah King, 6, Zamyah King, 4, and Caylie Walton, 1, are able to play and spend time with Conner’s children, Kahlea Davis, 3, and Haylee Herbert, 1.

“Hopefully they’ll grow up being friends,” she said.

Conner said she was also appreciative that King’s children are around the same age as her children.

“We were just saying today how we really needed to get them together to play more,” she said.

The children squealed and screamed as they chased each other in circles around their mothers, stopping only to hop across the street to King’s grandmother’s house for a juice break.

The juice break allowed their mothers to catch up, without having to stop to count heads or instruct the children to back away from the road.

“It’s really nice just to be able to sit down and catch up,” Conner said.

Conner attributes her lasting friendship with King to loyalty.

“If it’s a true friendship, you’ll be able to keep in touch, and you’ll want to,” she said.