40 years.....Celebrating Beth....

I thought a lot about this post the last couple of weeks. I knew I was going to do it. This is Beth. She is 40 today and is the best friend a girl could ask for. We have known each other since June of 1999. I'll never forget the first time I met her because I thought it quite brave of her to bring her BRAND NEW baby boy to come meet me at a "meet the pastor" party. She looked so....NOT post partum two weeks. She looked young, fresh, friendly and most importantly.....FUN. I couldn't wait to get to know her. Well, it didn't take long. I even remember our first phone call. I was still in Lexington and she called to see how things were going saying goodbye to our church and friends. Funny. She cared before she even knew me.

We became literally INSTANT friends and even better; so did our husbands. Life was good for those first 18 months of our friendship. Lots of late night talks, snowy winter afternoons drinking coffee and putting our kids down for naps and looking thru magazines. Talks about our regrets, our dreams, and our quirks. Laughing about everything. Going on a weekends together with Matt and John. Surviving Andrews teething and purple gums, and my very surprising pregnancy with Evalee.

Then life became a little hard.....things were hard for me and then started to get hard for her. Tough times at our church, in my husband's job and tough times for Beth personally. But, she proved what an amazing person she is. She kept going. Kept caring. Kept laughing. Kept making fun of me in that sweet way. Kept talking. Kept being interested. Kept calming me down. Kept putting up with me. Kept being the mom she is. Kept serving God. Kept loving her sisters. And our friendship grew and blossomed. From rocky times, to smooth times, to busy times and the heartbreak of knowing that the everyday times were going to end in July of 2006. Neither of us knew what those times would bring. At first, it was hard. How do we do this thing called friendship hours away? So much of our lives were intertwined. What would it be like to say goodbye?

In some ways, she drives me crazy.

She's stubborn.

She hasn't read an owners manual to anything she owns and can't open an attachment in an email....

She sometimes tries to be Superwoman.

She has trouble saying no.

But.....

She's taught me how to be better.

She's come along side me in really hard times and was just.....there.

She's easy with people. I'm amazed at her ease with people and her ability to read them.

She's sooo bright. And she short changes herself in this area a lot.

She's been a friend and has stuck with that decision when many people haven't.

She's loved her family members so deeply at times it hurt her beyond words while I watched in awe at her compassion.

She's been a mom that I can count on for advice

She's worked hard when she puts her mind to something and has amazed people with her talents in photography and decorating.

She's bought A LOT of Christmas presents over the years and wrapped even more....hahahaha....

So...

Here's to Beth on 40 years of a life beautifully lived.

And I'm the lucky girl who calls her friend and has shared nine of those with her.

Love you so much....



Picture removed cuz Beth hated it. Hahaha!!!