Speaking of friends! I recently had the most amazing blessing of meeting one of my best friends. Hold up. What? Did I really just say I just met one of my best friends? Yes. You read that correctly! Let's just say I'm a unique individual who falls in love with and makes best friends with people she's never met. On a frequent basis. But I do eventually meet them! And marry them, in the case of my wonderful husband. But in this so-called "military life," it seems to be the norm for a lot of people. I actually have over a dozen ladies in my life that I have never had the pleasure of a lunch date with. Or even a hug for that matter ~ as sad as that is! Nevertheless, two weekends ago our long-awaited first meeting arrived! It was a mere two hours, but I'll tell you, they are two hours I'll never forget!
I met Carolyn a year ago in ~are you ready for this?~ a military support group! Surprised?? We military ladies must stick together when the going gets rough! You have to live it to know it. Her husband was serving in Iraq and my then-fiance was in Afghanistan. She had two months left to her husbands deployment, and I was only two months in. Oh the frustration of the two month mark! So many months to go... But we were matched up as "Deployment Buddies." Unbeknown to Carolyn, I had secretly wanted to be her friend in real life. She just seemed so stinkin' sweet and personable! And little did I know, she thought the same of me! The Lord knew best and saw fit to match us up! We spent the next number of months gabbing away, encouraging each other when the times got hard, rejoicing with each other as our men returned safely to the States, and even celebrating when Carolyn became pregnant with her first little one.
We tried a number of times to meet. Honest to God we tried. Life just has a way of getting IN the way. Between her pregnancy, my husband's R&R, and my wedding, it never happened. And then, a miraculous window opened. As my previous posts shared, my amazing friend Kelle was getting married in Texas two weekends ago. Now, Carolyn does not live in Texas, but her family does. And she just so happened to be visiting that weekend. Seriously, what are the odds? The day before we flew out, we realized we'd be an hour apart from each other. There was no way on earth we were going to let this one slide! There was a very short moment in time we could even cross paths, but it happened! Finally!! The drive from the reception was full of anticipation. We kept texting each other "Can you believe this??" messages. And finally, I ~ still in my bridesmaids dress and horribly uncomfortable heels ~ hopped out of the car and excitedly hobbled into the hotel we were staying that night to where Carolyn was waiting for me in the lobby. (She drove from Austin to San Antonio for a short two hour visit And at 8 months pregnant no less!) And as predicted, the moment was entirely surreal. Like giddy school girls, we embraced and laughed and couldn't believe it. The three of us spent the next two hours chatting, laughing, and people watching at the River Walk Hard Rock Cafe. It was an unforgettable night! And then...just like that...It was over. And we were waking up at 0345 hours to catch our flight back home.
You never know what surprises might come your way! We certainly didn't expect, nor did we plan such a time! But there it was. God is so good!
1 comment:
Ahhh! I did not know you had a blog!! How fun! :)
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