don't worry, i'll get to it. my head is still spinning...
14 years ago i began my first year of high school with fear and dread. back then, i began any new adventure with fear and dread, (not much has changed...) and as i faced the doors to this new chapter in my life, i was ready to lose what little breakfast i could force down right there on the spot.
but, and you will be shocked...i survived.
i don't remember much from that first week, but the one vivid memory i do have is walking into my social studies 10 class and finding a seat against the wall half way down the row. as i tried to get organized so that i would look like the mature high school student that i currently was i looked up to see *bright colour* walk in the door. i say *bright colour* because before i noticed her beautiful smile, i noticed her very bright red jeans and very bright bold american flag sweater that she proudly wore into a very canadian classroom.
i can't remember the exact moment we became friends...but from the hundreds of notes that i still have from the 3 years we practically saw each other every day, it doesn't matter when our friendship began, what matters is that it did.
i don't even remember when our names changed from *kimberley and julie* to *broomhilda and ursula* but they did. my little stash of notes tells me so. so when i look back at all the memories that my dear friend is in, she's ursula - always will be.
high school ended. i stayed, urs didn't. to me, my already beautiful friend became even more exotic as she traveled the world and saw things that i could only dream of. but suddenly, my emails began to bounce back. the last time i heard from ursela was 6 years ago.
enter facebook.
oh, wondrous facebook - what would we ever do without you?
last night, i sat curled up in a comfy chair across from another comfy chair and looked into a face that was as dear to me as it was when i saw her for the last time 11 years ago. i can't even begin to describe what it was like to settle into a conversation that was so fast-paced, but so incredibly comfortable it felt like the years hadn't passed and we were back in her bedroom on her farm, whispering our hopes and secrets late into the night.
instead, we shared our joys, our brokenness, our questions and our faith in the One who introduced us in the first place.
and as we saw each others battle wounds from the last 11 years i realized something that shook me to my core.
our Jesus has carried us through even when we didn't feel Him near, and our pain and our scars are not meant to shame us any longer - our scars are meant to point others back to Him. He has claimed to be able to turn ashes into beauty and after last night i believe Him completely.
so here we are. 11 years older, hopefully wiser...but still friends.
