She Left

Kelli graduated yesterday and left today. (I wrote this on Sunday.) I spent most of the weekend with her and her family. It was so nice to spend time with another family. Weird as they are, it felt so normal and comfortable. They treated me like family and took me in as one of their own. This only seemed fitting because for the past year and a half, Kelli has been more than a friend to me. She has been like a sister. I say this as the utmost compliment because my relationship with my own sister is so wonderful.

The “goodbye” seemed odd to me. It didn’t seem quite real. It was the third goodbye that I had to a friend who was leaving Baylor. I am so naïve to the changes that are about to occur. In my optimism I think that not much will change after a goodbye. Granted I won’t be able to just walk down the street to the person’s apartment and say “hi,” or meet up across 35 for some grub and to talk about the latest developments in life, but something in me still says relationships are strong enough to hold up against distance. It is more than just the physical presence of the person that held the relationship together in the first place.

Perhaps I am deceiving myself again, but I think that Kelli and I can withstand distance. She and I understand each other like no one else I know. Our friendship goes so deep through life experiences, crazy times, sad times, daring (Halloween night) times, grieving times, and joyful times. My words aren’t capturing our friendship. Like our friend Bekah, from Asbury might say, “It is the work of the Holy Spirit that builds our friendship and brings us so close. That’s it. It is as mysterious as the work of the Holy Spirit because our friendship is the work of the Holy Spirit.

So I sit on the couch, knitting a scarf, watching a movie and sipping wine thinking about our friendship. I’ll stay optimistic. I have to. Even if there is a letdown at the end, I choose to stay optimistic. Maybe we will end up as roommates at the same seminary. Maybe much longer down the line we end up working at the same church. Can’t you see her pastoring a church where my private counseling firm is? It may not be too far-fetched. :) At least I know I’ll see her spring break when I make the trek down to Greenville, SC.