Every Time

One day a few years ago, a position came open at work. It was an unusual occurrence. But we had moved our Online Coordinator to another position, and it left a spot open. I wasn't on the interview panel, but I remember clearly what the panel said.

"We interviewed one girl who was just great. We LOVED her. She's working on her Master's degree in Higher Ed, and her thesis topic is online education. She's really too good for this position, but if she's interested in it we would LOVE to have her."

That's the first thing I knew about the girl who would become one of my very best friends.

Many of my friendships had a pretty distinctive beginning. But not this one. I really don't know when it was that we became so close. It just happened. I do remember some milestones. Like the day we first realized we have lived parallel lives.

Seriously, parallel.


We're both preacher's kids. Our dads are amazingly similar. So are our moms. Our families had both been hurt by those we trusted most - the church - and had dealt with forgiveness in that area. We were both in band.

We both had an amazing group of college friends. We love higher education. The kind of love that makes you work your tail off and sometimes give more than you have because your heart won't let you not. The kind of love that makes one good moment in six months of bad moments worth everything. For the first year we knew each other, she was finishing her Master's degree, which helped inspire me to start (and finish! Soooo many pep talks!) mine.



She loves Jesus. I love Jesus. We share the same sense of humor. She struggled with one personal issue, I with another. But the emotions were the same.

She had moved around as a kid. So had I. We both were considered the smart kids. She has an older brother (two, actually) and a younger sister. I have an older brother and younger sister.

Parallel lives.



We have laughed together - a lot. We have cried together - a lot. We have been in the trenches together. We have been on a 12 passenger van together for an 8-hour-one-way trip...both ways. And two days of fun in between. We have written numerous mass-mailed letters together, getting the wording just right. We wrote a proposal together for a project and painstakingly picked every. single. word. We have been creative together. We balance each other.



We have so many good memories. Like the morning she walked into my office and told me she was going to have a baby. We cried that morning. Or the day she slipped in the hallway...Ahem. Or the season she fell in love with basketball (this is huge). Or the countless times we just sat and talked about life...About real things...About frivolous things...About nothing at all. Or the lunches at Azteca. Or the time she gave me some serious support when I didn't think I had the heart, strength, or right words to turn down a very sweet man. Or the months that she, no longer just Online Coordinator, led us through some rough times. Or the trip to Babies R Us to buy a friend's baby gift when we really had no idea what babies needed. Or so many others.



The day she told me she was having a baby, I knew it would eventually bring a bittersweet moment. I knew because we had talked about it.

That moment has arrived. My dear friend gets to stay at home and raise her baby girl. She gets to teach her child the way of Life. She gets to spend her days singing Love songs and reading True stories. She gets to be a mom. All day. I could not be happier for her, for this is the fulfillment of innumerable hopes, dreams, and prayers.

(Aren't they beautiful?)

My heart is full when I think about her getting to be a stay-at-home mom.

So are my eyes.

Chelley, I'm going to miss spending 40 hours a week with you!! I'm overcome with thankfulness that the Lord chooses to bless me and love me through you.

"I thank my God every time I remember you."

Love you. Keep me! :)