friendship

The last time I sent out a blog was Oct. 13, the day our dear friend Julie went into hospice care. She went home to heaven Friday evening, Nov. 2, and the funeral was Nov.5. It has been a roller coaster of emotion for 6 weeks. It seemed like Julie held on for a long time, but actually, it was only 5 weeks from the time she knew it was bad. Life really isn't fair. It was such a harsh reminder again that we are not promised tomorrow. You just never know when it is going to be your time. Thankfully we have Christ to look forward to. I don't understand how people without a faith could go on after something like this. We (faithful followers) still question in our hearts why, but can accept it because we realize this world is just something we pass through. For those who do not believe in God's promise of heaven, how incredibly difficult some kind of tragedy like this would be for them to accept. God is good! How thankful I am to my parents and grandparents for such a heritage. The real reason I am writing this tonight is to share a short story about friendship. To give just a little background, Audrey (Julie's daughter)plays on our basketball team. I have written about my girls a few times. As you may remember, 6 of these girls have played together since 2nd grade, and the rest for a year or more. 4 of them go to church together and 3 have known each other since birth. These girls get along real good and really seem to enjoy being together. I have been keeping everyone on the team posted about Julie because there was genuine concern. My heart was really touched when I saw Audrey's teammates at the funeral with their parents. To my knowledge, none of the girls were forced to be there. My little team doesn't win every game. We don't have the best players in town on our team. We most definitely do not have the best coach. But there is one thing that I believe we have better than any team in the league. Friendship and respect for each other. Case in point...the first weekend Julie was unable to come to our games these girls yelled her name every time we broke huddle. Not my idea by the way. The next week at practice the girls wanted to sit down and talk about Julie, because they were confused and needed that time to try to figure it out. So I stopped practice and we talked about it. These little girls always play hard, even if we are getting pounded. When we win they display good sportsmanship. When we lose they keep their heads up and always shake the other girls hands. (Unlike some of the other teams we have faced) These little girls are full of character. An obvious trait of their parents. I realize these girls are 10 and 11 years old, but there is a lesson in this. (I also realize they are closing in on middle school, and something very ugly happens to middle school girls. They turn into these mean, nasty creatures that hunger for being mean to their very best friends. I've seen it and it is unbelievable.) But back to my original thought. These sweet girls came to a funeral for a teammate who just lost her momma. They might not really understand what that means, but they know enough to know they stick together through thick and thin. I can guarantee when we all get together after Christmas to start practicing again nothing will be said about it. There won't be a bunch a hugging and crying. The girls will just pick up were they left off the last time we played and continue to get better. But Audrey will know one thing forever. These girls are her friends, and they care. I was able to talk to Audrey for about one minute at the graveside service and asked her if she saw some of her teammates. Her face lit up as she told me who she saw, then I filled her in on who else was there and she smiled and got goofy like she does. I believe God puts people around us for a reason. Some for a life time and some for a season. Friendship is something that should be cherished and not abused or taken advantage of. I have learned from my little girls what friendship should look like. It is pure, effortless, unspoken. Audrey will not forget her teammates were there for her, and they didn't even say a thing. They just showed up. I really love these little girls. This is just another reason why. I hope you find this as cool as I did. At the end of this blog there is a link to the home page of my blog. If you like you can click on it and check out other blogs I have written. Until next time I feel inspired!!