It is very rare that I get very personal with my blog posts but I wanted to share some bittersweet news.

The news is that a very close friend is moving away.  It is bittersweet because she is leaving my area but she will be very close to her children and grandchildren.  I guess to many this would not be such a big deal but to me it is enormous.

What makes this 32 year old friendship so special is that it was not a friendship formed in high school or college but rather a friendship formed in our married lives.   We were  leading professional lives and met in childbirth class.  Who would ever have thought that the person across from me who couldn’t do the breathing exercises because she talked too much would turn out to be my lifelong friend.  After all, I am a “by the book” person that would never talk when an instructor was giving instructions ~ even to tell my husband he was doing the exercise incorrectly.  Well she became that friend.

In reflection, our introduction to one another in the ladies room at child birth class was hilarious.  She grabbed my arm and introduced herself and said “can we sit next to you?”  I think we were the only two couples that didn’t arrive on Harley Davidson’s and had no visible signs of tattoos!  Her daughter was born a month before my daughter.  This precious baby had a heart defect that would need surgery.  I know God put us together, because my husband, at the time was in the insurance business and went to “bat” for this couple in order for their daughter to receive under coverage the surgery she needed.

We got together regularly for play dates with our children.  We lived across town from one another.  Our children attended different schools, we attended different churches, and we socialized in different groups.  Our bond is very strong.  Our daughters, although growing up in different circles were/are best friends.  They went to different colleges and although they have treasured friends from their college years, they chose each other to be  maid/matron of honor in each others weddings.  We’ve given wedding showers, birthday parties, bachelorette parties, and baby showers for each other and our children.  She loves my daughters and grandchildren and I love hers just the same.

We are so different and have different interests.  (I did however teach her to quilt “just enough”~ she wanted to make her grandchildren a baby quilt) We are very much alike  although on the surface no one would ever know.  She talks nonstop ~ I’m on the quiet side.  She is full of energy and spontaneous ~ I’m slower and more deliberative.  She never meets a stranger and at first meeting she has a “new friend” ~ I evaluate and reflect before making that commitment.  She loves to cook ~ I cook out of necessity.

Where we are alike is in our family priorities and our love of the Lord.  We are different on the outside  but our souls and hearts are the same.  We want the same things for our children and expect the same things out of our relationship.  We are not demanding of one another but we are dependent on one another.  We have always said we wanted to grow old together and be roomies in a nursing home together.  I guess that will be up to our children.

This may sound like a sad farewell but it is actually a happy tribute to a friendship that has endured the normal ups and downs of marriage relationships, the passing of relatives, heartbreaks and disappointments, joys and blessings and just  being………….

friends.

Love to you Penny

Charlsey