I have this friend...

"A true friend is one soul in two bodies." ~ Aristotle

Well actually she is more like the sister I never had, or a soul sister, or as she likes to call us a "soul mate of friends". And I want to warn you before I go any further that this is going to be sappy and yes, I am crying as I write this. I cry for many reasons because 1. She is pregnant and 2. I won't be near when she has her little diva of a baby and 3. She truly is my soul mate of friends.

We met in 2003, both dealing with broken hearts and insecurities, while having to spend our summer in college algebra. Neither of us were good at math and we can't even begin to tell you what we learned in class. However, I learned more that year about myself, friendship and God's love for me through my soul sister. I can still picture my friend that first day; she was wearing a zip-up sweatshirt over tank top, fitted capri jersey sweat pants, bohemian hoop earrings, well done make-up and her hair was thrown up in mess. She looked fabulous and she sat next to me. We knew of each other prior to this meeting because we both went to the same church youth group, but we had never talked because we went to rival high schools. Plus, we were kind of the same person - both drama nerds, choir singers and leads in our high school musicals. She was Maria from West Side Story and I was Annie Oakley from Annie Get your Gun. 

June 7, 2008

Any way, I'm not really sure how it all went from there, but I just know we became immediate best friends after that. We clung to one another that summer, crying over our broken hearts, mending and building up one another, singing like divas in the car, sipping on wine coolers, golfing and laughing so hard we annoyed the other golfers, hanging out on the 4th of July, running together, swimming in her pool, rapping about Jesus and sharing our deepest hurts and dreams with one another. We were real with one another. Both from small towns, neither of us ever felt like we fit in or had a true friend until that summer. I don't think I even knew what it meant to be a friend or to love someone who wasn't family till that summer. To be honest, I was afraid to be friends with other women. I had been hurt by girlfriends and I had hurt them back, and I just felt like maybe it would be best for both parties if I just stayed away from female friends. But, she embraced all my silliness and my sadness, and taught me to not be afraid or ashamed to be who God made me. She loved me for me, and we had the most fun I've ever had with another woman. But like all summers, they end and we had to go back to college - she went north to U of I, and I headed southwest to MU - rival colleges. Fortunately for our hearts, we went back whole and revived. I was more open to love and joy that year thanks to my summer with her.

May 30, 2010

That next year, we both found the men we would marry, and just a year before we were broken. And that my friends is the power of God right there. He brought together two broken people to mend one another through His love. And I can honestly say, I love her. We've been there for one another through break-ups and marriages, and now she is going to be a momma. And I'm so proud of her. She is going to be a wonderful mother, and her daughter will be blessed to have her as her mother. I know this because I am blessed to have her as my soul mate of friends. God knitted her soul to mine, and I will forever be grateful for the love, wisdom, forgiveness, grace and kindness she has shown me through the years.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.  

~ John 15:12 - 15