Friends

Last Saturday was Valentine's Day. The good news is I remembered! The bad news is that I remembered about 2 weeks beforehand. I bought the card, made the plans and was ready...right up until everything got turned upside down the week before. Then I forgot it all. I went into crisis mode taking care of others. I devoted myself to being the best friend I could be for Jimmy's family. And we got through it all...the day he died, then the day after. The funeral home. The visitation. The memorial service. The let down when it was all "done". Red and pink hearts, candy, cards and fancy dinners were nowhere in my thoughts until late last Friday night. Trena and I were about to head for bed when she brought it up. She had gotten cards for our girls, had I? "Yes, me too." Let's write in them and get to bed, she suggested. "OK by me." We did and then looked at each other and asked if we had done anything for one another. We had both bought a card. Neither had written any of the sweet sentiments we had planned yet. We'll do it tomorrow we told each other as the lights went out.

Valentine's morning was fun with the girls opening their cards and some little gifts from their grandparents. We went about the business of the day - I left in the early afternoon for the church and Trena did laundry, cleaned house and got the girls ready for church. I had not even thought about Valentine's Day since the early morning...and I wouldn't again until about 9pm when I came home to find that our very good friends Greg and Laura had thought alot about Valentine's Day. And they thought of their friends Todd & Trena who had just been through an impossible week. So they brought us dinner - buffalo steaks (DELICIOUS!), mashed potatoes, creamed spinach and an Oreo cake! They even had a card for us. They did all of that for us just in case we had not been able to do it for each other. I was floored. Slack jawed. Blown away.


Thank God for your friends. They are the ones you laugh with. They are the ones you turn to for advice. They are the ones you'll call at midnight in an emergency. And they are the ones who will think about you when you can't even think.

Thank you Jesus for friends like these!