friends show up in the oddest people sometimes. i’m getting to know a girl a little bit better recently. amazingly enough, we both grew up going to the same church. she and i are both redheads and have come from very different families. the first memory i have of her is her first sunday back from living in (was it Australia?) for a year. this was back when we were wee things wearing dresses with bows and altogether atrocious frills. i was supposed to be the little girl who liked everybody, but for liking everybody, i disliked this girl an awful lot.

through the years i was invited to birthday parties for this certain girl. i would go and spend hours with “tee-heeing” girls. some i would know and others i wouldn’t. another difference between us — she went to public school and i was, obviously, homeschooled.

last year was no different. i recieved an invitation to an overnight party. i went, without the other sister who had also been invited, but with a friend who was already planning on spending the weekend with me. we got there and it was just the two of us, this girl and another from church. we talked on her bed, ate dinner with her parents, gave her our presents (the bag and paper i used were very cute), watched a movie, and talked some more. and i had the best time.

she makes me laugh and i make her laugh. we both love talking and even though i don’t understand what she’s talking about with all her classes and whatnot and she has absolutely no idea of where i’m coming from since my life is spent entirely at home, we get along splendidly and i’m finding that i like this girl very much.

she’ll go away next fall and i’ll stay here (unless something drastic happens fast).

and i wonder why it took me so long to get to know her.

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.