My Uncommon Friend

I have been blessed tremendously with some incredible friendships in my life. I made some great friendships in college at the BCM and the memories with those people I still treasure today. A few of them I still keep in touch with, as much as we can..life gets in the way, work, marriage, babies. Then there are the friends that I've made while I've lived in North LA. God knew that I needed those people in my life: Sara, Brandi, Misty, Sheryl, Erin, just to name a few. But there is one friend that stands out in my mind and in my heart. Her birthday is next week and I thought that I would write this on her birthday, but since I'm home with double pink eye (yes, double!) and the words are flowing, so here it is.

Jess and I met when we were twelve years old and both landed on the Mariners softball team. We just clicked!!! The next few years were filled with games, practices, the Little League parades, McDonalds before the parades, the sleepovers (on the couch bed!) and lots of fun! Jess and I laugh to this day about how we ended up as friends: we went to different schools, different churches, had different circles of friends, we went to different colleges, our lives look totally different from each others! But God knew what He was doing when He put us on the same team years ago. She's the sister that I never had. We've been through everything together: boys, family stuff, grief, loss. She was the first person that I called when I got home after I found out about Shane, she's the first person that I call to talk about a potential date, she's been my sounding board. Now, she's brought Corey into her life (and now he's a part of mine too--even if he won't let her come visit! LOL) I remember when she called to tell me that she and Corey were engaged..I literally hung up on her and came right over! I ran across an article written by Beth Moore a few years ago, titled "Uncommon Friends". She wrote about her husband and his best friend. It talked about how they had a friendship that was God ordained and how they were so different from each other, yet they had such a strong friendship. I tore it out and sent it to Jess. It made me think of us. Even though we live 200 miles apart, we immediately catch up where we left off from before. I love that! She is my voice of wisdom, she keeps me sane...she gently tells me the truth in love that I so desperately need to hear, even though I may not want to hear it. I could go on and on. But I'm grateful for all of the friends in my life.....especially her.