More Than Just FB Friends
This week I got back from a short vacation to visit my best friend Amy and her family in Dallas. I was excited to love on her new little girl and spend time with her two other children. I was looking forward to it as a time of relaxation and getting away from my every day life in Riverton, and it was. However, it was also a time filled with a little nervousness, especially as Amy dropped me off at the airport because I wasn't flying home to Riverton, I was flying to Orlando, Florid, and I had no idea what lay ahead.
Go back 11 years ago to the summer of 2002 when I did my first summer of mission work during college. I was excited to be working at a church I loved with people I wanted to get to know better. When I went to orientation, I met the other summer missionaries that would be working throughout Wyoming, including a girl from Texas named Cassey. Cassey was working at another church here in Riverton and our pastors had decided to combine some of our activities so I knew I would be working with her.
Little did I know the amazing friendship that would unfold that summer. Cassey and I became fast friends and ended up spending all of our free time together over the next 10 weeks. If you know me at all, you know I don't have many friends and I don't make friends easily. I'm not a big social person and it's hard for me to let people in and see the real me. With Cassey, though, I felt so comfortable and at ease with her in a way I had never experienced with anyone else, either before then or since.
That summer we laughed until I literally wet my pants, we cried with each other, we stayed up late into the night talking about anything and everything, we rolled down gravel hills in the pouring rain, and by the end of those 10 weeks, we had committed to doing mission work together the next summer. I bawled when it was time to say good-bye...I knew I had made a life long friend.
We applied and were assigned to serve on the Big Island of Hawaii the next summer. However, in January, Cassey called to tell me she was getting married that spring and backing out of her Hawaii commitment. I was devastated. Not only was I hurt and very disappointed that I wouldn't be spending the next summer with her, I was confused as to why she was marrying the guy she was. The summer before we had spend a lot of time talking about him and almost everything she said was negative. I wasn't sure I wanted to go through with the summer in Hawaii but at the urging of those around me, I decided to follow through with my commitment. The rest is history as I met Amy in Hawaii and that led to us serving as missionaries in India the following summer.
Things were rough between Cass and I for several years. It wasn't that I was angry with her, I was just very hurt and even after the hurt wore off, I wasn't sure how to go about rebuilding our friendship. I had said some hurtful things to her before she got married and I was sorry but didn't know how to make things right again. She got in touch with me in 2007, a few months before I was heading out to see Amy, who still lived in Arkansas at the time. We ended up meeting to spend the night in Memphis, but things were weird between us and I think we were both relieved to see the morning, and my flight home, come.
Fast forward a couple more years when we really began to connect again, this time on Facebook. Cassie had a little boy and I loved watching him grow up in pictures. I enjoyed hearing what was going on in her life as her husband had been stationed in Japan and they had a little boy while over there. When her older brother died while she was in Japan, my heart hurt so much for her and I tried to support her as best I could from across the ocean and through a computer screen. When her family moved stateside again, we continued to keep in touch and it just seemed that as time went by, we got to be closer friends. Her husband was recently stationed in Florida and I kept saying I would come visit, but when it came to financial means, it just didn't seem a reality. After I sold my red car and found myself with some extra cash, I decided to bite the bullet and buy a ticket. I was going to Florida!!
Needless to say, the visit with her was amazing! It was as if I had just saw her last week. Things were immediately comfortable for me and even though I was nervous about getting to know her husband, I liked him right away. I got to meet her little ones and they completely stole my heart! During those few days with her, I remembered why we became such good friends to start with. She just got me if that makes sense. With Cassey, I knew I could completely be myself and didn't have to pretend to be something I wasn't. The only downfall of the trip going so great is that now I have to start saving up for a yearly trip to Florida!!
I love that my God restores friendships. I love that He gives us all second chances, and third, fourth, and so on. He encourages us to do the same with those we meet along our journey in life. I'm so glad Cassey was willing to give me another chance. She is a forever friend and I am so thankful for her!
Go back 11 years ago to the summer of 2002 when I did my first summer of mission work during college. I was excited to be working at a church I loved with people I wanted to get to know better. When I went to orientation, I met the other summer missionaries that would be working throughout Wyoming, including a girl from Texas named Cassey. Cassey was working at another church here in Riverton and our pastors had decided to combine some of our activities so I knew I would be working with her.
Little did I know the amazing friendship that would unfold that summer. Cassey and I became fast friends and ended up spending all of our free time together over the next 10 weeks. If you know me at all, you know I don't have many friends and I don't make friends easily. I'm not a big social person and it's hard for me to let people in and see the real me. With Cassey, though, I felt so comfortable and at ease with her in a way I had never experienced with anyone else, either before then or since.
That summer we laughed until I literally wet my pants, we cried with each other, we stayed up late into the night talking about anything and everything, we rolled down gravel hills in the pouring rain, and by the end of those 10 weeks, we had committed to doing mission work together the next summer. I bawled when it was time to say good-bye...I knew I had made a life long friend.
We applied and were assigned to serve on the Big Island of Hawaii the next summer. However, in January, Cassey called to tell me she was getting married that spring and backing out of her Hawaii commitment. I was devastated. Not only was I hurt and very disappointed that I wouldn't be spending the next summer with her, I was confused as to why she was marrying the guy she was. The summer before we had spend a lot of time talking about him and almost everything she said was negative. I wasn't sure I wanted to go through with the summer in Hawaii but at the urging of those around me, I decided to follow through with my commitment. The rest is history as I met Amy in Hawaii and that led to us serving as missionaries in India the following summer.
Things were rough between Cass and I for several years. It wasn't that I was angry with her, I was just very hurt and even after the hurt wore off, I wasn't sure how to go about rebuilding our friendship. I had said some hurtful things to her before she got married and I was sorry but didn't know how to make things right again. She got in touch with me in 2007, a few months before I was heading out to see Amy, who still lived in Arkansas at the time. We ended up meeting to spend the night in Memphis, but things were weird between us and I think we were both relieved to see the morning, and my flight home, come.
Fast forward a couple more years when we really began to connect again, this time on Facebook. Cassie had a little boy and I loved watching him grow up in pictures. I enjoyed hearing what was going on in her life as her husband had been stationed in Japan and they had a little boy while over there. When her older brother died while she was in Japan, my heart hurt so much for her and I tried to support her as best I could from across the ocean and through a computer screen. When her family moved stateside again, we continued to keep in touch and it just seemed that as time went by, we got to be closer friends. Her husband was recently stationed in Florida and I kept saying I would come visit, but when it came to financial means, it just didn't seem a reality. After I sold my red car and found myself with some extra cash, I decided to bite the bullet and buy a ticket. I was going to Florida!!
Needless to say, the visit with her was amazing! It was as if I had just saw her last week. Things were immediately comfortable for me and even though I was nervous about getting to know her husband, I liked him right away. I got to meet her little ones and they completely stole my heart! During those few days with her, I remembered why we became such good friends to start with. She just got me if that makes sense. With Cassey, I knew I could completely be myself and didn't have to pretend to be something I wasn't. The only downfall of the trip going so great is that now I have to start saving up for a yearly trip to Florida!!
I love that my God restores friendships. I love that He gives us all second chances, and third, fourth, and so on. He encourages us to do the same with those we meet along our journey in life. I'm so glad Cassey was willing to give me another chance. She is a forever friend and I am so thankful for her!
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