As I backed out of the driveway, tears welled up in my eyes, some tears fell because I felt like I was losing someone, but most fell because I was so thankful that I had found someone. When I found her, over 20 years ago, I had no idea how precious she would become, how much of life we would walk through together, how much our personal likes and dislikes would mean absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of life.
I was in my early twenties and she was even younger. She was graceful and crafty and naturally beautiful and I was clumsy, loved to shop and hid behind lots of makeup and big hair. She was a friend of my boyfriend and ran with his crowd and I can remember driving past our "special place" when he said we were going to double date with her and his best friend.... I objected! "She seems like a nice enough girl, but we have nothing in common." I went through with it anyway, and there began a beautiful friendship.
When she was in college and I was a newlywed she would come and hang out at my house, we shopped, we cooked, we made photo albums together, she helped me make my son's first birthday cake. Sometimes we wouldn't even have anything to say, but could just BE together, she taught me how to do that, I had no idea that a friendship could grow so much with no words at all.
Between us we have birthed 10 babies, but have only one living parent, and we just aren't old enough for that to be the case, so we have cried floods of tears together, many happy, but many the snot-slinging, blubbering, how will I ever get through this tears. We have spent many late, late nights together, sometimes with a few other friends, reading God's word, praying, searching book after book for how to love our husbands deeper, raise our children better, become the woman that we were created to be. She, along with many other friends, has taken care of my home and my family in times when I couldn't. She has helped me see things in my children that I couldn't see and then kept me accountable to speak those things to them, many of which will forever impact their lives.
She is the kind of woman who dreams big and isn't afraid to go after them, or maybe she has been afraid, but pursues her dreams afraid and full of faith! I've watched her dream and attempt things that I would have never had the courage or the know how to do. I have watched her walk through struggles and hard times with such grace and peace. The wisdom that she speaks goes deep to my heart; it challenges me, it encourages me, it propels me to seek the Lord more, to listen to Him more closely, to often times reconsider my position or stance on a subject. We have questioned the ways of God together and always come to the conclusion that regardless of our level of understanding, the He is always for us, that He is always good, and that His grace and love is always enough!
She's not going that far away, we can still text, send facebook messages, be at each other's house in less than two hours if we need to. We can still keep up with what's going on in each other's life and truthfully we will probably not see each other much less now than we have over the past couple of years and she's lived only 10 minutes away but a little piece of my heart was left in her driveway yesterday and I am forever grateful that who she is will forever impact my life.
