Today's post will be a slight departure from our new regular "Movie/Music Monday." I want to tell you about someone who is very special to me. Her name is 1L. If you say that with a good, drawn out Southern accent, it sounds like /wah-nell/...which sound like someone working behind the counter who would ask you if you want your hashbrowns smothered, scattered and/or covered! Her true given name is not 1L...but that's who she is to me.
Her name is Michele. Her hubby and Mr. Snark worked together in RollingHills, GA...they invited us to come to church and it's all in the history books from there. The fellows quickly realized that they would have to come up with some way to distinguish the wives from each other in conversation, since we both have the same first name. Thus, the tags of 1L and 2L were created. Nice that our mothers chose different spellings for the same name. It was supposed to be just for the husbands...but it went viral. Friends from church used it...even morphing my name to 2L-er...made me feel like Elly Mae! Even folks in 1L's hometown know us as 1L and 2L. Southern folks...we do LOVE a nickname!
Tangled up...I guess that would be the best way to describe us, our families. She was one of the first ones I called when we got FILove's cancer diagnosis and then when he died just five months later. Having moved to Bamaham about a year and a half before us, she's the one who convinced me that it would be ok when it was our turn to move. Her hubby is probably the one Mr. Snark would name as his best good friend. She's the one who spoke very calming words into my ear as Mr. Snark was rushing me to the ER with the event that led to my partial hysterectomy in November 2008. She's the one I called when Mr. Snark was taken to the hospital with chest pains...just barely one month after we moved to Bamaham....she took my children and her hubby took me to the hospital. When she had to rush out of town the day her daddy died, I'm the one she called to get her children from school. I was never so honored as when she and her hubby sat in my living room and told their kiddos that PopPop had gone to heaven. That's trust, people...that's safety...that's family. That's being tangled up...just in case you were wondering.
Our life together in Bamaham was short. They moved back to their hometown area two years ago. After her daddy's passing, 1L's heart was no longer content with being two hours from her kin. God knows the desires of our hearts and will give them to us, according to what's best for us...according to his plan. An opportunity became available for them to return to their hometown area and it was just one of those things that you can't ignore. I've spent this long weekend with her and it just reminds me how blessed I am.
There are things in this life that I will never have, never see, never experience. What I have known...what I have seen, what I have experienced is the love, joy, faithfulness and beauty of a friendship that goes beyond the scope of friendship. I've had several of these relationships in my life and to miss them because of life's changes is not necessarily a bad thing. Some people go all their lives without just one friendship like this and I've been gloriously blessed with this one...and so many others. To miss her, to crave hearing the sound of her voice, or the sight of her, is just a chance for me to be thankful for her and the impact she's had on my life. She's sweet, where I am sour. She's kind where I am cross. She's gentle where I am a bull in a china shop. I've never heard her speak an ill word about ANYONE. I've never heard anyone speak ill of her...of course, they probably know doing so in my presence would be totally foolish! I often tell people that when I grow up, I want to be like her. It's true.
I love you, 1L....one of my many sisters from other misters! Go get a tissue, okay?
Her name is Michele. Her hubby and Mr. Snark worked together in RollingHills, GA...they invited us to come to church and it's all in the history books from there. The fellows quickly realized that they would have to come up with some way to distinguish the wives from each other in conversation, since we both have the same first name. Thus, the tags of 1L and 2L were created. Nice that our mothers chose different spellings for the same name. It was supposed to be just for the husbands...but it went viral. Friends from church used it...even morphing my name to 2L-er...made me feel like Elly Mae! Even folks in 1L's hometown know us as 1L and 2L. Southern folks...we do LOVE a nickname!
Tangled up...I guess that would be the best way to describe us, our families. She was one of the first ones I called when we got FILove's cancer diagnosis and then when he died just five months later. Having moved to Bamaham about a year and a half before us, she's the one who convinced me that it would be ok when it was our turn to move. Her hubby is probably the one Mr. Snark would name as his best good friend. She's the one who spoke very calming words into my ear as Mr. Snark was rushing me to the ER with the event that led to my partial hysterectomy in November 2008. She's the one I called when Mr. Snark was taken to the hospital with chest pains...just barely one month after we moved to Bamaham....she took my children and her hubby took me to the hospital. When she had to rush out of town the day her daddy died, I'm the one she called to get her children from school. I was never so honored as when she and her hubby sat in my living room and told their kiddos that PopPop had gone to heaven. That's trust, people...that's safety...that's family. That's being tangled up...just in case you were wondering.
Our life together in Bamaham was short. They moved back to their hometown area two years ago. After her daddy's passing, 1L's heart was no longer content with being two hours from her kin. God knows the desires of our hearts and will give them to us, according to what's best for us...according to his plan. An opportunity became available for them to return to their hometown area and it was just one of those things that you can't ignore. I've spent this long weekend with her and it just reminds me how blessed I am.
There are things in this life that I will never have, never see, never experience. What I have known...what I have seen, what I have experienced is the love, joy, faithfulness and beauty of a friendship that goes beyond the scope of friendship. I've had several of these relationships in my life and to miss them because of life's changes is not necessarily a bad thing. Some people go all their lives without just one friendship like this and I've been gloriously blessed with this one...and so many others. To miss her, to crave hearing the sound of her voice, or the sight of her, is just a chance for me to be thankful for her and the impact she's had on my life. She's sweet, where I am sour. She's kind where I am cross. She's gentle where I am a bull in a china shop. I've never heard her speak an ill word about ANYONE. I've never heard anyone speak ill of her...of course, they probably know doing so in my presence would be totally foolish! I often tell people that when I grow up, I want to be like her. It's true.
I love you, 1L....one of my many sisters from other misters! Go get a tissue, okay?
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