My Friend

My friend Julie came for a visit yesterday.  This is special for many reasons.  Julie and I have known each other for awhile now, since our sophomore year in high school.  But more than the length of time we have known each other, it is the depth of our journey that makes our friendship important to me.  Julie was my carpool buddy during the two years when I surrendered my license because of my seizures.  We taught in the same crazy junior high and drove back and forth together every day.  That's a lot of "Let's see what the kids are listening to," people.

Let me explain that reference.  Julie taught choir.  I taught English. We shared a lot of the same students.  At the end of many days, we would fall into her Ford Taurus, mildly exhausted, and she would say, "Let's see what the kids are listening to."  That was our cue to turn on the Top 40 station or the rap station and pretend like we were fourteen year olds driving down the road in something that wasn't a sedan.  It was a brilliant way to let off steam.

When Julie and her husband Brice started a Young Life club at our junior high, it was almost effortless for Erik and I to jump on board.  And that was a whole other brand of crazy.  Dairy club where kids bobbed for cheetos in milk.  Turkey bowling.  Many other odd and hilarious things.  Such awesome memories.

When Julie moved to Ellensburg, it was a pretty hard thing for me.  We had been nigh inseparable for two years, at least from September to June.  But the Lord knew what He was doing.  She and Brice continued in ministry.  Erik and I carried on with the Young Life team at Stahl, bringing on another couple to learn the ropes.  And it turned out, we were going to need a connection in E-burg.

Toward the end of my teaching career, we invested highly in a young man in recovery from a very serious drug addiction.  Over Spring Break, he relapsed and was sent to an inpatient facility about 40 minutes from Julie and Brice's house.  We visited every weekend we could, and the Johnsons allowed us to crash at their place.  It was so great to have that house, with those people, to greet us after visiting hours were over.  Heartbreak isn't nearly as hard when you are surrounded by folks who love you and love the Lord.

Julie and Brice live in Germany now.  They do ministry with an organization called Youth Compass.  We love them, but obviously don't get to see much of them.  Their visit yesterday was filled with talk of babies and ministry and Germany and lots of other things.  But mostly, it was just balm for my heart to spend time with my friend.  We laughed a lot.  And I even was able to kidnap her for a quick trip to Starbucks.  Did I mention that she has an adorable 4-month old daughter?  New baby land is so hard.  I wish we lived closer.  I would do that WAY more often.

Sidenote:  Her oldest and my youngest were born the same day within hours of each other.  And now he speaks fluent German.  Um.  That's awesome.  It has totally motivated my boys to begin their German lessons this Fall.  Yep.  That's going to be sweet.

Do I want to go to Germany to visit my friend?  More than I want to do most things that are on my plate right now.  Will it happen?  I have no idea.  But I will confess googling airfare prices to Frankfurt way more often than usual. ;-)

Here are the pics to prove it happened.  I have to tell you that we were facing intensely bright sunlight, hence the fact that we are both squinting like moles.  And in the second shot, I can't really explain the look on Brice's face except to say that it is pretty quintessential Brice.

 I love my friend.