My best friend.
What a power-packed title, huh? I don't know about you, but when I was a little girl there was only ONE. Anne Loving. My Miger. My super-friend. She embodied every friendship-quality known to girlhood, all wrapped up in a blond, petite, sweetheart. We were ridiculous, in every wonderful sense of the word. We had HUGE imaginations - boyfriends, pet rocks, forts, and other worlds. We were TOMBOYS - dirt, creeks, bikes, and grasshoppers.
I can VIVIDLY remember the day she moved. After third grade. We stood outside her pumpkin house with very somber faces. We cried. We considered running away. We went to Cornette and bought paper, pens, and envelopes. I got on my bike and rode back to my dad's apartment, sobbing. I thought my life was ending. And a part of it was.
It's weird looking back, we always promised we would be friends FOREVER. We would be different. WE would be the kind of friends that would take trips together as little old ladies. We had quite a bit of foresight for eight-year-olds. We could identify that most childhood friendships don't last forever, and we wanted to be the one that did.
Oh we gave it a great go. We wrote HUNDREDS of pages of letters. I mean long. Many. Typed and handwritten. Snail mail, every one. We visited each other at least once a year, even through high school.
But we broke our promise.
Somehow it happened. Life. College. Weddings. Babies. At least that's how it looked on my end. Unfortunately I don't really know what life things took precedent on hers. It used to really grieve me that we didn't have what we once did. I used to feel really guilty.
But I don't anymore.
I love my Miger.
She will always hold that most lofty childhood title
- my best friend.
I've learned a lot about friendships. First of all, there will never again be the magical time of childhood. While Anne met my every friendship need from age 2-20, it gave me a somewhat distorted picture of what adult friendships would look like for me. I was always looking for that one SUPER FRIEND, because that's all I needed. I was always looking for that ONE friend who was every friendly attribute tied into a single person. But when that wasn't to be found, I found myself friendless and lonely.
I don't like friendless or lonely.
So. I decided to be neither. I now have lots of best friends. I have some friends that I love to work with. I have some friends that I love to learn with. I have some friends that are in the trenches of mama-hood with me. I have some friends that are in the trenches of ministry with me. I have some friends that are mentors, and have discipled me to love Jesus more. I have some friends that at the drop of a hat will go shopping or get pedicures. I have some friends that are like sisters. I can have entire wordless conversations with some friends. I think I've laughed with all of them, and cried with most of them. They have loved me even after I've been a TOTAL IDIOT or hurt them badly. They are my friends.
So today I am introducing a new series on the 'ol blog. It is going to be a tribute to the great friends in my life. The list is ever morphing. Ever growing. And in no particular order. :)
"... a sweet friendship refreshes the soul." ~ Proverbs 27:9
No comments:
Post a Comment