The right friend, at the right time.
You know how it is when you're on a wavelength with someone.
Maybe you don't see them very often.
Maybe you only talk to them twice a year.
You realize, somewhere along the way
you're tuned in to one another
When you need someone with just their idea of fun
just their style of conversation
just their willingness to listen
and not bury you in advice
they appear.
I've got a friend like that.
She's someone I've known since we were just kids.
We know a whole mess of people in common
but we rarely ever talk about them.
I love that we have that days-gone-by foundation
but we're all about now.
What's going on?
What's making you happy this week?
Who's making you crazy?
How are the kids?
Tell me how I can pray for you.
I called her this week to see if she could skip work and road trip with me.
Short trip: four hours one way, four hours back.
Eight hours of yakkity-yak in the car?
Ohhh HELL yeah.
It was the perfect day.
Took care of the travel business at hand.
Caught up on family, friends, ups and downs and this and that
victories and heartaches and the few people who just can't help but
chew on our very last nerve.
All the while watching an autumn sky.
Kind of grey. Full of clouds
hanging above trees, now barren of leaves
and spread over mile after mile of farm fields, mid-harvest.
We were in the general neighborhood
so we stopped to decorate her parents graves for the winter.
We both lost our folks recently
our season of life, I guess.
The burdens of worry
the fear of the unknown
the feeling like an orphan
We know those things.
When you've known someone since you were young enough
to be crying over a high school boyfriend in a football stadium bathroom
and you've weathered the mutual storms of the
sorts of tragedies life dishes out in
some semblance of equal measure
there is a depth to the friendship that is both
comforting and strengthening.
Thanks for hitting the road with me, my friend.
For letting me unravel the threads of my life for a while
My edges feel smoother after we talk.
You remind me what is important.
You encourage me.
And love me.
Even though you know I am just
a little crazy and more than a little
off-center.
You remind me
we've all got problems.
We've all got fears.
We all wonder.
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