Friends

Life is short.

And if relationships are all that I get to take with me into eternity...

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We first connected through our blogs.  She found me while looking for a (dearly loved) mutual friend.  At the risk of being presumptuous, I called her my friend from the get-go.  She's amazing.  A talented writer, funny, witty, self-effacing, loving, hospitable, passionate.  So when I traveled with LeRoy to Maryland on a business trip, I saw it as an opportunity to meet in person... {this part makes me giddy} on this side of Heaven!  Eyeball-to-eyeball.  Which is one of my most favorite things in all the world.  (And probably one reason I don't do long distance relationships well.  At all.)

So for me to rent a car for the day and drive from Annapolis, Maryland to Alexandria, Virginia to meet Karen in person was an entirely fabulous, dreamy adventure!  Known only by the words we each had penned on our blogs, I was filled with anticipation.  And yet, when we greeted each other... well,

...she said it best on her blog:

"We hugged.  It was not the hug of strangers.  It was the hug of women who hold a piece of one another's hearts, even though they have never before laid eyes on each other's faces."

~ Karen               

She took me to lunch at one of her favorite Thai restaurants where we talked and talked and talked as though we'd been friends our whole lives and only had these short couple of hours to catch up.  I'm so glad we didn't meet at her house as I would totally have over-stayed, (in spite of all my promises to myself that I won't, I usually do...  *be warned).

After lunch we crossed the street to Alexandria's Cupcake where we both chose a coconut cupcake. And visited longer.

And, this "piece of one another's hearts" that we held... it grew bigger.

The person I got to know through her writing on her blog... is the kind of friend I imagined.  I didn't feel presumptuous calling her my friend anymore.  We shared our lives with each other, (well, as much as two people can share in about 2.5 hours).  And that.

That priceless gift that someone offers when they trust another to hold a part of their heart.  

Would you like to read Karen's side to this story?  She wrote it in four parts: Adventure, Part I,  Adventure, Part II, and then Adventure, Finale, and finally Adventure, Finale (For Real).  

(And Fran, I love you forever!!  You and Pastor!  I love you for you!  And I love that I met Karen through you!)