Taylor liked Alabama. I liked Auburn. Taylor liked the color red. I liked the color pink. Really, there was one thing that we both loved the same amount. We loved the movie "La Bamba." Seriously. I still say that no one does a locker lean quite like Ritchie (Lou Diamond Phillips). We were obsessed.
As we grew up, life took us in opposite directions, and we lost touch. Even though we lost touch, I would think of Tayls every September 1. The first of September is her birthday, but growing up, it was also my parents' wedding anniversary.
Taylor would come to mind every year on Iron Bowl Saturday. Even though we were not in touch, I always, always had things that would bring her to mind.
Fast forward to 2006. Providentually, thanks to a thing known as MySpace, I was reconnected with my childhood best friend. The beautiful thing about being reconnected when we were? It was two weeks before my dad passed away.
One night in July 2006, I got a phone call. The simple question I heard on the other end of the phone,("How ya doin'?") yielded an avalanche of an answer. Out of that conversation came something I will never forget. Her words: "I can't give you what you want, but I can give you what you need." I spent a short, but much needed four days on a couch in Charleston, South Carolina. That trip gave new life to a friendship that had been lying dormant for 13 years.
Nine years later, Tayls is still the best of the bestest friends I am blessed to have in my life. Thanks to her, I have a family who loves me and supports me, and is thankful for me.
This past weekend was an early Thanksgiving. I was invited. I wasn't invited as a friend, I was invited as a part of the family. I love being a part of a family where there is no dividing line. I have a family outside of my own, and it is a good thing. A beautiful thing. I am so blessed and fortunate to be greeted by love when I visit. Where someone else's parents feel like my own parents. Someone else's siblings feel like my own.
As I was leaving, I was told how loved I was, and how much of a daughter I feel to them. Being loved feels nice. I am so thankful. God continues to bless me with what I don't deserve. Grace and Thanksgiving. The two go hand in hand.
Nine years ago, at my most broken place...God brought angels of mercy into my life, and what has bloomed from that is far more beautiful than I could/would have ever dreamed.
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