A lot happens between friends. Good stuff. Hard stuff. Stuff you never forget and stuff you never live down.
I have a little group of "besties" that I like to call the Peeps. And yeah, there are inside jokes to all that stuff, but again, it's part of what happens between friends.
Between us, we cover 3 different generations, with one in her 20's, one in her 30's and me, a little older than all that. Yeah, that means I'm in my 40's. Get over it. I have. It's a strange and unusual thing for the three of us to be so super close and yet, it's utterly perfect.
I met Miss Gigi way back when both of us were working with high school ministry. We went on some training retreat and I was one of the drivers. Miss Gigi ended up in my van and rode a long way listening to me "bash" young 30-somethings. Yeah, genius I am not. But somehow, she survived the ride and we even ended up rooming together for the weekend. Somewhere along the way, we bonded, like for life.
Our journeys have overlapped in a way that we could never have planned or understood. We have days like today where we endure a long day of horrible training simply by dishing up the laughter. Then spur of the moment, dropping me off, she grabs my kids and keeps them for the overnight. She gifts me with a wonderful date night and in turn the ideas for my next book.
As if that wasn't enough, she gifted me with something else. Little Miss is a great amazing kid. But she's a hard kid too. She comes from the hard place in life and she acts like it too sometimes. Miss Gigi sent me messages tonight that helped me see her through her eyes. That's a gift.
"I love Little Miss! She cracks me up! Just by being herself and I love it! She is fun and sassy. When she is with my daughter I don't think she is different then how we are when we're together. She loves her and teases her and is completely loyal."
There is no follow up comment to that.
The youngest Peep, Chicklet, is someone I met in an equally unusual way. She took care of my kids in the child care at church, but quite honestly, she scared the snot out of me. She was dark and sort of pulled back, shy maybe and, get scared here, pierced and tattooed. Yeah, I know. Get over it. I did.
Here's the thing, I'm standing there one day talking to her about I don't even know what, and I hear myself asking her out to lunch. We went to Panera. I think I was late because I got lost. I'm always lost. It was awkward and weird and then I'm pretty sure I asked her to do it again.
Somehow, Chicklet and I, 20 years difference between us, have become tight. It's a thing I don't understand, our friendship, but it's something I would never change or give up either.
I was in a place in my life between close friends and none. These two amazing women came in somewhere in that time and became more than I could have imagined.
Between you and me, they're the best friends a woman could ever hope for.
