Living Adjacent

So. because of facebook, I have been looking back. I was a The 1995 ClayWeek Festival Queen. Lol! I know, no one wants to hear about my "glory days" and quite frankly I don't want to live in them. I had stumbled upon a page for former "royalty" to reunite and reconnect. Most of the girls' reigns were more recent history, but I did find a few from the stone age to share memories and pictures with.

It was a special time in my life. It was the first time I discovered girls can actually be nice! We spent all of our weekends together traveling to different festivals all over the state and established some precious friendships. As time went by, we all grew up, connections were lost and life went on.

The beautiful girls in these pictures are some of whom I formed close relationships. Except for the one in the middle. Kim. She represented the other "Twin City" adjacent to mine. We attended the same high school, I was two years ahead of her. I remembered her because she graduated with my brother. I have absolutely no recollection of traveling with her even though she is in numerous photos of mine from that year. She was our server at Red Lobster a few times while she was working her way through nursing school, I remember that. Years later we delivered our baby boys, one day apart, staying in adjacent rooms. We never saw each other but I met her husband, an acquaintance of my husband, and their baby boy. Jerry and he gushed over their boys in my hospital room. I have a picture of that too. Never saw her again.

UNTIL Six years later. Those two little boys were in pre-school and joined a wrestling team that Jerry coaches. Those two boys became fast friends. Kim's husband, Justin, began helping with the team as well and we were spending time together as families. The flow of conversation and admiration were instant. We, including our boys, fell in love with them. In a short two years, we have formed a connection that will remain. It's effortless. She is one of my most treasured friends. It's a small club. It is impossible for me to deeply invest in a large number of friends and maintain intimacy. A friend will inevitably fall into two categories; lifelong, dear, acquaintance or immediate, kindred spirit. Kim is unmistakably the latter. Besides my sister, she is a friend who knows what I'm thinking even when I present my thoughts less than eloquently.

When I was pulling out my memories, I was struck by the way God brings people together exactly when he intends. Kim's grandmother had terminal cancer when our two little boys met, and our friendships blossomed. Our conversations of faith, during her eminent grief, opened the floodgates to our connection. She showed the love of a friend, I have very rarely experienced. Mutual vulnerability, strength and love that could have began all those years ago, but didn't, because our young years blocked our attention. We overlooked each other. Yep, she had no memory of our time "together" either! God used a powerful, heartbreaking circumstance and two precious souls to unite us in this royal friendship. He had placed this being in my path for many years but I wasn't looking, I had pictures to prove it. Much like Jesus, if your not looking you won't see Him. He preferred alliance over adjacent. I love His preference.