Friendship

"My friends have made the story of my life. In a thousand ways they have turned my limitations into beautiful privileges, and enabled me to walk serene and happy in the shadow cast by my deprivation." ~Helen Keller

Friends. What a wonderful way for God to take care of us while we're here on earth.

Over the past 10 years here in Colorado, I've been blessed with so many. Friends that I've worked with, friends that I camp with, run up mountains with, drink coffee with, talk for hours on the phone with, feed my e-mail addiction with, etc. etc. Friendships have formed out of the most ordinary of life's activities and the most extraordinary. Bonds made between fellow women, mothers, wives, and sisters in Christ.

Today I ran into a friend at the coffee shop and we took a few minutes to catch up. We haven't had much time together over the past year, due to the craziness of life, but I was struck at how easy it was to pick up where we last left off, and at just the right time - for both of us. Last weekend, I attended a baby shower for another friend and was blessed to find the time to spend with several of my friends that I don't get to see very often.

There are friends, too, that have been in my life (or I've been in theirs!) for a short season, and we've now lost touch. I think of my friend whose husband struggled and later died of a brain tumor and wonder where she is today and what is going on in her life. I think of a friend who was once a close confidant, my go-to person for all of life's joys and challenges who is no longer so close and I miss some of our long conversations about nothing in general. I think of friends through various life stages, my high school/college friends, single friends, married without children friends, etc. etc. and wonder about each of them now. Do they have children of their own? Where are they living? Did they realize their hopes and dreams that we planned so carefully together all those years ago?

Whether these friendships endured for decades or mere months, they have each left their imprint on my life, shaping me, teaching me, and bringing me strong emotion - both good and bad.

One of the things I'm going to mourn the most about leaving Colorado is leaving my friends here. I know that God has promised to provide for me wherever I am, and because of that, I'm sure He'll bring new women into my life that will be just right for whatever season we're in, but it doesn't make leaving any easier. I do find comfort in knowing that we have the technology and transportation means to make the distance less of an obstacle to keeping close, but there is a nagging fear that it won't be the same. And maybe that's the point.