The Missing Piece

August 14th, 2010

My best friend from college came to visit this week.  Just like she does nearly every year.  Our visits somehow always just pick right up where we left off the last time we were together.  Her visit this time came on the heels of a very hard time around here.  It wasn’t planned that way.  At least not by us.  Isn’t He amazing?

We had no grand plans, just to live life together this week.  We survived the “big shopping trip” together.  A visit with Nana and Papa.  Three days worth of meatloaf leftovers.  Chores and homeschooling meltdowns.  Cold feet (we do keep our house 69 degrees at night), sleeping on the harbinger of death “sick bed mattress” and early morning wake up calls.  Matt compared our house to a week at a kid camp – dirty, loud, non-stop go, early mornings, late nights.

We talked of church problems, parents, husbands, children, friends, city life versus town life, ostentations, crashes, yoga, and math curricula.

Friday night we went out to eat and see a movie.  We watched the kids play under a gorgeous sunset as jets flew overhead.  It was beautiful.

We got up this morning, had bacon, egg, cheese bagels, said our long goodbyes, and cried quiet contained “I’m going to miss you more than words” tears.  What surprised me at this year’s goodbye was that my children cried.  Sat down in the grass and cried their own “I already miss her” tears.  Comforted each other with their own “It won’t be that long – Christmas is just a few months away and then it’ll be the new year and then she’ll be here real soon” words.  And my heart swelled and cried a new type of tears – tears for my children as well as for myself.

And as I stepped inside to change the baby, wipe my tears, wash my face, there in the first place she knew I’d visit was the socks she had borrowed and the money for dinner we had argued over the night before.  Hidden until she was gone.  I laughed and cried.  And smiled.

Jill, we had more fun than we could describe.  More laughs than we expected.  And we’ll miss you more than you’ll know.