Forward.

So, I had quite the weekend. It was stock full of crazy stories....like how my sister and I got swindled and had $100 taken from us. Or how I got stuck behind a million jingle-bell runners and almost missed a wedding, or how I went down a one way street the wrong way ( Aunty D would understand...hehehe!), or how we stayed in a "fancy hotel" that had terrible service and loud rooms....but, I'm going to just blow over those minor details and get to the good stuff....

Brett's dear friend Denny got married to his adorable wife Laura ( who looked gorgeous beyond belief)...and I got to witness it and soak in all of Brett's sweet friends from his college days. All of whom were terribly gracious and made me feel right at home.

Annnnd, I came home to the exciting news that one of my greatest friends in all the world has started....a blog.

So, in honor of said event I got the idea that, just like books have forwards written by friends and colleagues, I think that blogs need the same thing ( its one of the greatest oversights of the blogging world) so, without being asked I'm going to go ahead and write a forward to "Keeping the End in Mind", a new blog for a new beginning.

"I meet the author when she was just a name and a little black and white school picture in my roster of students in my care as a House Tutor ( resident assistant). I remember thinking that she sounded just like a heroine out of a great children's book ( her name is seriously perfect for a book!) and I was delighted to find that upon meeting her she was most definitely "bookish"....and we would soon become acquaintances that bonded over reading Jane Austen and the tendency to fall both down and UP stairs. As the years went by our relationship changed, she became a Christian AND a fellow house tutor and we had even more in common but just when our friendship was beginning to take root a big change was happening in my life. I left New Zealand.
All of a sudden all of my friendships were forced into the Long Distance category. So, many friendships faded and many found a happy middle ground where we kept in touch and always knew that when we saw each other face to face things would "still be the same", a few stayed strong as my very best friends, but only one can I honestly say blossomed through new found separation... Here was a friendship that did not fade. A friendship that did not settle in. This was a friendship that, against all odds, grew. Remarkably enough our friendship has grown through the written word and almost entirely the written word. Since 2004 I think we've talked on the phone a hand full of times and seen each other face to face twice. Yet, through hundreds and hundreds of beautiful letters-mostly in response to my own blog posts- I saw one of the most beautiful people I've ever had the privilege of knowing. Even though I had been a Christian for many years, reading her tales of discovering the Scriptures for the first time gave me chills. She would see beauty in the smallest details of life and could fine Analogies for Christ in the most every day circumstances that would give me a new perspective on the very life I lived. Her emails were no less than drops of Life.
In my Bible I have two letters from her that I'd printed out and re-read many times. I've quoted her on this blog more than anyone else. So, one could say she did, in fact, turn out to be a Heroine in a book, gifted in the written word-she has changed my life, and I am delighted that she'll now be writing in a more public forum so that you may all share in the next Chapter of her life when, she too, will leave New Zealand.
I have a feeling life will never be the same....