Go Ask Alice

Today, I am excited because I get to spend some time in the company of my great, good friend, Alice. Alice and I have known each other for a very long time, though in truth, for a good number of those years, we were more of what I would call "casual friends" than close friends. We attended the same church, had the same friend circles, were friendly when we ran into one another in the grocery store. You get the idea.

But today we have a different kind of friendship. And it happened, or should I say, blossomed, when we both moved away, not just from one another (she to Orlando, me to Atlanta), but from just about everyone else we knew. As the Lord would have it, (I almost said "fate" because that sounds more like what a writer would say, but I don't believe in fate . . .) anyway, as the Lord would have it, I had a conference in Orlando, and decided to call her up for a visit. And that's when our new friendship started.

The thing I love about spending time with Alice is that we have such a blast together telling our stories. She is a storyteller; I am a storyteller, and so we spend our time together telling our stories. We talk about our husbands, our children, our lives, our fears, recipes, wine (PS I LOVE my stemless wine glasses, Alice!), Dancing with the Stars, Jesus. There's pretty much nothing we don't talk about. I remember one time when I was visiting her in Orlando, her husband walked into the room where we were laughing and being quite loud and Alice said, "We're telling our stories." He smiled. We laughed. And kept right on telling our stories.

The other thing I love about spending time with Alice is that because we only see each other about once a year, I cannot wait to see her! And when we do see each other the way she greets me is just about the greatest thing in the world. She screams, smiles, opens her arms and hugs the life out of me. And I, in return, do the same.

So today, yay, I will be in the company of my sweet friend, Alice. This is a friendship that adds value to my life. It is so life-giving that it probably adds years to my life as well.

All that to say, the best friendships seem to be the ones where the seeds lie dormant for a long time, and then suddenly blossom, bursting with depth of color.