{Out of the Blue} Coming near

We used to walk back and forth from her yard to mine. We sat on our front porch and dreamed of when we could drive a car instead of ride our bikes. We laughed and cried and shared so many inside jokes we can’t even begin to remember them all. Hometown Pizza, Dr Pepper, and Circus Peanuts remind me of us.

We went to different colleges and only briefly lived in the same town again. She moved far away not long after I moved to the western edge of our state.

Katie has been back in the Bluegrass for quite a few years now, but we’re still 267 miles apart. Our front doors were less than than many footsteps apart from October 1990 to August 1997, but distance hasn’t stopped us from confiding in each other, picking right back up where we were when we finally stop getting each other’s voice mails, or thanking God our husbands and kids like each other.

This week has only slightly resembled what my calendar said, but it’s been good. I’m thankful for friends who load an extra kid in their vehicle, are quick to check on me, surprise me by coming near, go to lunch on a whim, meet me at the pool, ask me to help, offer to help, and invite us over for dinner.

Katie is the one who surprised me by coming near. Out of the blue, I read this text as my family and I were getting ready to make the 45-minute trek back home from Paducah.

Sooo … maaaaaaybe my mom asked me last night if I wanted to go to see my grandmom with her, and maaaaaaybe I decided this morning that I wanted to … So we just got here!!

Here is Calvert City. It’s 30 minutes from my house and less than that from where I was standing in the bathroom at Rafferty’s, where I was waiting for everyone to empty their bladders before we loaded back in the minivan.

So, yes, of course, we detoured home through Calvert City. And, really, if you’re looking at a map, it’s all moving in the right direction. AND I GOT TO HUG AND TALK AND SIT WITH KATIE on a day I had no idea she’d be near.

She’s is home to me. Even when we sit in her Grandmom’s house, where I’ve never actually been. Especially when my daughter insists Katie sit in the middle of us. Especially when my boy shows his sweet, gentle self in constant conversation with Katie’s Grandmom. Especially when she borrows her mom’s fancy car for the morning and comes to see me.

Y’all, the timing was perfect Tuesday night when she texted me. She’s worth a detour in the wrong direction, but this one was in the right direction. And the timing was perfect when she showed up just before 8 a.m. Wednesday. Jaclyn picked up Ben for VBS about 30 minutes later and then we dropped Cate off at robotics camp.

And then we went to sit in a coffee shop and talk. Uninterrupted, expect by each other. Without an agenda, except each other. I don’t even drink coffee, but I didn’t want to be anywhere else in the 9 o’clock hour Wednesday morning.

Katie is home to me. It’s never long enough. Or often enough. It’s usually dependent on so many circumstances and schedules. Really, there is no better surprise than when the person who has known me longer than I’ve known myself comes near. And we settle back in to the couch, even the one we’ve never actually shared, that has collected so many memories, conversations, disappointments, dreams, laughs, and seasons. It’s there God reminds me who first introduced me to Him and how far we’ve all come together. 

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I’m glad to be linking up with Kristen’s Out of the Blue series at Chasing Blue Skies. I’ve missed documenting the ways God surprises us. 

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