Our Grateful Life

I get by with a little help from my friends…

Thursday was such a great day with my friends! I drove up to OKC to spend the evening with Fanny and Mrs. Preacher Man and while driving spent 2 ½ hours talking to Mrs. JT. It was wonderful.

I don’t think I truly thank my friends enough for loving me and supporting me and really, putting up with me. I’m a hard pill to swallow. Things come out of my mouth before my brain can make them stop. I’m opinionated and controlling and a little bit of an obsessive freak. Although Fanny has me beat with some of her ticks.

But I would do anything for them. I can pinpoint exactly when I knew all three of these ladies would be in my life for a very long time. When Pack 2 was in the hospital, Chris and I dropped everything to be with them. We didn’t really know Mr. and Mrs. Fanny Pack very well and they certainly didn’t know us but Chris and I both knew we would be at that hospital. For as long as they needed us. Fanny’s kind of protective of herself too so I really believe that was the first time we both realized the other one was okay. Fanny even pointed out how strange it is that we are in completely different stages in our lives but we are still such good friends. If we didn’t truly love one each other, that might be hard but we do and so it’s easy.

Mrs. Preacher Man is another story. One week, Chris and I had tickets to a Hornet’s game and no one to take with us. We barely knew Mr. and Mrs. Preacher Man but they dove right in and came along. By the end of the first quarter of that basketball game, Mrs. Preacher Man knew more about me than most of the people we’d met in OKC. And this was year 3. She’s that kind of person who just fires questions at you so fast you don’t have time to think about your answers. All the sudden, you go, whoa, that’s really how I felt about that. Lots of “Ah-ha” moments that night. But it was the beginning of a great friendship. I still have plenty of those moments with her but they are fewer now. There’s more give and take. At least I hope so!

Now, Mrs. JT is my oldest friend. However, I didn’t know just how close we would become until college. We’d lost touch thanks to different high schools and different paths at Auburn but once we both realized we’d been completely deceived by the same dirt-bag guy, we were stuck for life! From that chance meeting on the Concourse when we both cried and apologized for something that was 150% neither of our faults, we’ve been together. Our emails are legendary. They are pages long and it usually takes me several hours to complete one. She has always supported me and loved me no matter what the challenge. We are a lot alike but completely different too. She’s the kind of friend you take inside the fitting room. We’re honest and totally ourselves with each other. No point in being anything else! We’ve known each other too long for that!

If any of these women called me today and needed me to come to them, I would be there. There is almost nothing they could ask of me that I would say no too. I hope they all know just how much they mean to me. I love them and I pray for them every day. The Lord has been so gracious to give me these three precious women and I am humbled to be part of their lives.