I digress

As per the title of our blog and the intention of it, I do realize that I am straying from the story today. However, as we make the difficult decision regarding staying in Sicily another year or returning home to find jobs and a life “back home” I am finding myself nostalgic in many arenas. Today I was reading a portion of a book on Prayer by Philip Yancey and came to a passage that took my mind and heart to friends I love dearly. I will quote the passage here and maybe it will do the same for you.

“I can count on one hand my most intimate friends, those with whom I would share anything. I can hardly think of a boundary on our conversations. We reach that plane of relationship after long hours together and considerable risk. If a doctor informs me tomorrow that I have a terminal disease, they will be my first calls.
Most of my intimate friends live in other cities, and as a result I may see them only once a year. When we meet, though, we skip the chitchat and go right to the heart of what concerns us most. I don’t worry about being judged or second-guessed or made the subject of gossip. With true friends I feel safe”

As I read I began thinking of three friends I put into that category. I will not name them here but if you read this you know who you are.

The first is from my childhood…so early in life that I don’t recall ever not knowing her. We played together as children and, though we have lived our adult lives geographically far apart, we have continued that friendship throughout the years. She knows my childhood family in a way no other friend does and I know hers. She even knows Bob’s family in a close personal way. I am truly thankful for her friendship.

The second friend I met in my young married years at a time when we had moved far away from family and friends. I was in desperate need of a friend and she showed up on my doorstep------literally-----and immediately became friend and family for these 35 years I’ve known her. She has dressed my children, waited with me during labor until Bob could get there, cried with me when my mother died, helped with weddings and has pretty much been a constant through my adult life. She is a dear friend and one who in some ways I would pattern my life after.

The third friend I met after I became a teacher. The first time I met her was when we moved to a new town in a different part of our state, I was walking down the hall of my new school and she was working in her room. I stopped to introduce myself and found we had been raised just 30 miles from each other. Through the years we found that our teaching styles were not only similar but we could finish each other’s sentences when working with children. We trained together for Reading Recovery and compared notes constantly. We even taught in the same room for several years. She is gracious and caring and thinks of others in ways I could never imitate no matter how much I would like to. She is one of the best teachers and friends I have ever known and we can talk for hours about any subject.

When I think about friends these are the first people who come to mind so I hope you don’t mind my taking a moment to ponder and say thank you for the importance they have had in my life. I even find that as I think about either moving back to or visiting the States this summer I think about being in a place where I can spend time with these friends. God has blessed me with other wonderful friends that I am very thankful for and I can only be amazed at His goodness.