Two Girls ...

January 1978.  It was 25 years ago ... maybe even to the day.

Two girls met.  On a college campus ... where both attended.  In a sorority house ... where both were initiated.  Two girls ... in a place ... where neither belonged. It was totally random.

The one girl wanted to be friends with the other girl because ... she was beautiful ... intelligent ... full of laughter ... bright ... motivated ... fun.  The other girl was everything the one girl wanted to be ... she was hoping that some of all that would rub off on her ... if they became friends.

The other girl wanted to be friends with the one girl ... for all of the same reasons.

And friends they became.  Then sisters. Once the whole sisterhood thing lost it's luster ... they simply claimed ... family.  

Both were searching ... for themselves ... for a place that felt like home.

One ran away ... beckoned by the green grass over yonder ... always managing to bloom where she was planted ... even if it was just for a short while ... before she wandered again ... never seeming to get ... where she wanted to be going.

The other simply ran ... in place.  Faster and faster ... with an equal amount of determination ... yet never seeming to get ... where she wanted to be going.

Both lost their way.  And at times ... each of them ... were plain & simply lost.

One was chasing a dream ... the other was racing against the wind ... and then ... one was racing against the wind ... the other was chasing a dream ...

Round and round ... the hamster wheels would go.

Through the years ... neither time nor distance nor life ... destroyed the connection between the two girls.  The friendship was always there ... waiting ... an oasis of encouragement & love ... providing refreshment whenever the opportunity for a reunion presented itself.

Once ... when they were still young ... they took a vacation together.  A scenic roadtrip ...
down A1A ... then sailing windjammer style from island to island ... before life overwhelmed then.
It was epic.

Jobs ... relationships  ... children ... bad choices .. good choices ... deaths ... families ... all came into the mix. Natural fertilizer ... was an abundant byproduct of both of their lives ... enough to sustain the most ample of gardens ... at any given time.
 
Nothing ever came easy for these girls. Even though it often seemed that it did ... to those on the outside looking in.

Along the way, the one ... she decided to share her life with someone ... it turned out to be not so good. The other one ... she found a him ...to share life with, too. 
Against all odds ... together they created something good.

There's a lot more to their story.  Parts of it aren't pretty. 

January 2013.  In a smallish church ... in an out-of-the-way crossroads of a town ... the man stopped the one girl on the way in.

He, too, has some stories ... not surprising, really.  Each life unfolds in different ways ... yet the stories are pretty much the same.

"I had a chance to reconnect with an old friend this week," the man said.  "It seems he is a mutual friend ... a friend of yours,too."

The one girl paused ... trying to imagine ... who in the world that could be. Most of their mutual friends were found in the circles of recent years ... from this place she lives in now ... and would not involve a reconnection for the man.  You see, the man's hamster wheel had been stationery for a lifetime of years ... lots of activity ... all in the same spot.

Turns out ... the mutual friend ... is the he ... the one that's married to the other she.  Seems the man ... and the he ... had a friendship of sorts some 20 years ago ... probably about the same time the two girls ... were getting lost ... trying to find themselves.

The man and the he ... their friendship simply faded away ... for no real reason. Their circumstances changed ... and the casual, friendly encounters ... were no longer a part of their routines.

Each thought of the other from time to time ... reflecting on the loss of the warm connection ... wondering, occasionally, why he had been dropped ... by the other.

The he ... went through some stuff.  He thought maybe that was the cause of the disconnect.  The man went through some stuff, too.  Turns out ... none of the stuff ... had a dadgum thing to do with anything.

Time passed.  Life had it's ups.  Life had it's downs.
And the he ... and the man ... thought of each less and less.

Until sometime last week ... when the he ... saw the man's name ... on the friend list ... of the one girl ... who is like family ... to the other girl ... who is his wife.

A reconnection was made ... by the man and the he ... and the stirrings of a warm friendship were rediscovered there ... buried under all of the years of disconnect.

I have been wondering ... for quite a while ... why I am still here ... in this place that doesn't feel like home. The gypsy in me has been longing to seek  a new adventure ... somewhere else ... anywhere but here. The reasons that made sense in the first place ... to be here ... have long since been replaced by hurts & disappointments.

The whispers have been persistent ... consistent ... and the one girl ... she has no choice but to listen:  Be still.  Wait.  Don't get ahead of yourself. Take time to heal.  There's still a reason for you ... to be ... here.

Twenty-five years ago ... maybe to the day ... two girls met ... and the bread of life has created a trail from all of their crumbs ... scattered haphazardly across the years ... leading two men to reconnect ... in the here & now. God's perfect timing.

Maybe, just maybe ... that's the reason ... why I am still here.
Synchronicity.


www.lifelessons-mj.blogspot.com (c)January 2013