Forever Friend

Every once in a blue moon God allows you to make a really good friend, like a really, really good friend. During the glory days of Middle Georgia College I had a chance to get to know Paige. She was blow drying her big curly hair and flipped her head over to the side and smiled at me with big teeth…already I knew we had two things in common. We eventually realized we were raised by fast driving, temper flaring ( at times) daddy’s. And that’s where our similarities ended. Lol! Not really…

She was the only girl in her family with two brothers. I knew nothing of being the only girl anywhere, as I was planted in the middle of two sisters.
She is a night owl. I’m a morning person. She likes marshmallow. Give me chocolate. She scheduled afternoon classes. I wouldn’t have dreamed of it. She liked to run. I hate to run….see, she has small bottom half and I clearly do not. I cried when I bounced an $11.00 check in college. She laughed at me about it.
I could go on and on. What I love most dearly about Paige is her knack for brutal honesty. Like the day I appeared at her dorm room to show her that I was engaged (at 18 years of age), and she said something like, “HUH??!! Are you sure about this?”
I am pretty sure I burst into tears and told her no and then she helped me get the heck out of that situation.
Yeah, she saved me with her honesty, and I am forever grateful. It reminds me of Psalm 124 that cries out, “If The Lord had not been on my side….” I shudder to think what my life would be like. Sometimes God speaks directly to me and other times He uses friends to help me see more clearly. That was one if those times.
Paige is very much a fun-loving, extremely real person that I love calling friend. I’m so grateful for that time in college that we had to bond. We wonder what exactly we did with all that free time (pre-kids!), but we are certain we didn’t take near enough advantage of it!!!
Her kids are hilarious and super sweet….my kids love hanging out with them. Molly treats Mabry like a baby. IlaBelle and Mack played cowboy and Indians in the yard. And Ruby would show up and want to hear stories from our young, crazy days.
So yes, Ruby and IlaBelle and Mack and Mabry all sound more like names of 80 year olds sitting around in a nursing home, but those are really our kids’ names!