"We Aren't Selfie Gals"

There are certain events, certain people, certain times in our lives that carry a deep and lasting impact.  Some of these are negative, but I have been fortunate to have many more positive experiences.  As I live the day in and day out of having Josiah, I am reminded daily of some incredible people who have touched my life forever.
Today, I am full of gratitude and completely refreshed after spending a short amount of time with my best friend.  We ran a race together, ate some lavender cake, painted, shopped health food and got some talking in.  The title of this blog post is a quote from her, related to my failed selfie of us after our painting experience.

As we discussed during our time together, making close and lasting friendships is difficult and we aren't entirely sure how ours started, but it has stood the test of time, of multiple moves, heartache and life changes.

What I can say is our friendship was solidified in sweat and miles.  When you run long distance with someone, the first few miles can easily be used to chit chat but the small talk runs out a few minutes in.  As my body broke down and became more vulnerable with each passing mile, whatever walls I had built up seemed to weaken as well.  It becomes easy to share more and more intimate details with the person struggling beside me, encouraging me to continue simply by continuing herself.
I have had a few running partners in my day and I have experienced a certain level of trust with each of them.  What is said on a run, stays on that run, shaken off like the dust on our neon colored sneakers.  Things I thought I would never share with anyone, running partners know.  Things I didn't even know I was thinking were blurted out at mile 11 with so many more to go.

My best friend and I ran long distance training runs for a marathon a few years ago, so our miles were loooong.  She was struggling with an issue that I knew well in infertility and she opened up to me about that and other areas of her life on those long stretches of country road.  

I can't pretend to know exactly how she felt about our running days, or about how our friendship is years later after her multiple moves, two (two!) kids, job changes and other friendships developed in her life, but I can tell you my side.

She is my best friend.  We try our best to be there for each other and we understand when the other can't.  She knows more about me than possibly anyone other than my husband. We have emailed almost once a week every week since she moved away.

She makes me a better person.  She encourages me, cheers me on, challenges me.  She is talented, strong, determined, hardworking, kind.  She is a great mother, writer, wife and of course, friend.  She is also becoming quite the famous writer, and you can check our some of her stuff here.  She writes about her life experiences, from raising her two children adopted from foster care to living her life intentionally.

D, I don't know how our friendship started but I'm so glad it did and I hope it lasts forever.