Friends

This morning is a rough morning for me. I did NOT have a red letter day yesterday, but I won't go into detail about that. My stomach is churning, my heart is aching, and I just feel a sense of unrest in every part of me. There's SO much going on right now as we prepare for our move. Not just on the calendar, but in my soul as well.

Moving is stressful.

For as long as I've looked forward to getting off this rock in the middle of the Pacific, the emotion that comes with leaving a place that you're comfortable is starting to hit me...hard. Especially after yesterday.

But there was a silver lining around my dark cloud. I've come to treasure a friend who will listen. And not listen with the intent of interjecting (as I tend to do) but listen and not grow weary of you saying the same thing a million times. Listen even though you're complaining about the same thing you complained about a month ago and have done nothing to remedy it. Listen as you make your mental and emotional breakthroughs and need someone to help you make sense of them. A friend who will listen and never make you feel like you're boring them or burdening them or taking them away from something more important.

Do you remember High School? Do you remember that group of friends you had? The friends you could be silly with and sad with and dumb with and boy crazy with. Now do you remember that one friend in the group of those friends that you just had to talk to at the end of the day even though you'd seen each other all day at school? That friend that you could jump on your bed with while singing at the top of your lungs along with Hanson's MmmBop. The only friend you really trusted to give you a make over right before you were supposed to meet the "guy of your dreams" at the movies and the friend that would let you cry all over her new shirt from American Eagle when he broke your heart. It's been a long time since High School and it's been a long time since I had a friend like that.

But I have that friend in Kasey. She listens and listens and listens (and guys that what it takes because, let me tell you, I'm a talker). She's fun, giggly, real and a total life giver. Our friendship has been tested and tried as we've dealt with all the trials that come with being women, wives and mothers and it's withstood them all. We don't always agree on things but we value each others opinions and the experiences that have brought us there.

And today, I'm both happy and sad. I'm thrilled that the Lord has granted me a friend like that during my stint here on this rock in the middle of the Pacific. And I'm so sad that after a little over a weeks time, I'm not sure when I'll see her again.

But I'll take comfort in knowing that if our friendship has conquered all that we've put it through, surely it can conquer a little bit of distance. I know from experience that there are some friendships that a measly few thousand miles just can't stand in the way of.

"A man of many companions may come to ruin,
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."
-Proverbs 18:24