Lori and I met 10 years ago when we both ventured to Youth with a Mission's Tyler, Texas base for Discipleship Training School. She from Florida, and I from Delaware. She had beautiful thick hair and a sweet way with the guitar.In one of my first memories of her, she and I are walking back to our dorm one night after we watched the X-Files with some friends. She says she would only wear a bikini on her honeymoon and I think, This girl is gonna talk about marriage all the time. Doesn't YWAM really stands for Young Women After Men?
As it turned out, Lori had plenty to say about things that had nothing to do with marriage. She wrote songs that made me want to sit in the loft of our dorm and drink hot chocolate while daydreaming about the complicated goodness of life. At our ages, we were at the cusp of self discovery. I was wide-eyed and innocent and she was thoughtful and grounded. Our personalities were so different that we quickly developed a tight bond. We could see eachother's blind spots. We brought a balance to the other person.
A few days before the school was over, my Mom called to tell me that my parents were separated. Lori knew the difficulty of divorce and she listened to me and hugged me and promised I would get through it.
The past ten years have held marriage and a baby boy for each of us. We stood by the other in our weddings (the photo of Lori is from my wedding - doesn't she look stunning?). We swap truths about motherhood on too-rare phone calls. While our lives hold some differences, the warmth of her friendship will always be familiar. We have not see eachother in almost three years since we are separated by about 900 miles and busy schedules. One day we'll visit again and our kids will play and we'll drink hot chocolate (spiked with a little espresso, I imagine).
Now, Lori, I just have one question for you: did you wear a bikini on your honeymoon?
4 comments:
I had many reflective moments with good friends in the loft of the girls dorm on the tyler base. Sadly, I don't really keep in contact with the friends that I was close with at YWAM. One of them was a guy and we are both married now...so that would be weird. Anyway, it is awesome to have friends that share your DTS experience. YWAM is such a weird thing that people wouldn't understand your stories except for the ones that were there.
My my! The things you remember!
Well, as for the bikini, we honeymooned in the Wisconsin Northwoods, which even in August is chilly. Then we went to San Francisco, where there was little reason for bathing suits at all, BUT lots of occasion for sexy little dresses! Once I was married I felt so much more comfy in my own skin and I felt SEXY as heck. I loved showing off what my husband had secured. I suppose had we honeymooned in, say, Hawaii, the bikini mentioned when I was 19 years old would have appeared. Thanks for asking. :)
OHHH!! I loved reading this. Brought back so many memories. It's crazy to imagine that 10 years have passed and yet friendships still remain.
xo
I love your account of such a special friend...the bond of a good friend is one of the most special things in life. Thanks for making me think of all the special women in my life!
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