Day 6: First Friends

I am thankful today for my first friend, Jina Bresson. Our parents have been friends since before our birth, attending the same church and were in the same Lamaze class. So, she literally is my first friend, and her family was my second family. I am so thankful for the life lessons we learned together and that we were able to process those life lessons together (lots of hour-long phone calls throughout high school, even when we'd spent the entire day together in classes & activities). Now that she has 2 daughters of her own, I know her prayer is that her daughters will find similar life-long friends; I echo that prayer for your girls, dear friend.

I imagine that it's fairly rare to find people who have been friends from womb to tomb. While Jina and I are not in the tomb (yet), I'm quite confident that we will be one of those pairs. I am not exactly sure when our parents met, but I think it was at church - and then the friendship grew while both were in Lamaze class. Jina's mom and my mom were both transplants to our little community, and I imagine that they found a lot of comfort in being in the exact same place at the same time: newly married, newly pregnant, new mothers.

Jina is the first friend that I remember having. I remember her coming over to our house one day so that my mom could watch her, and bringing chicken...just in case she didn't like what my mom made for lunch. We would have been around 2-3 years old at this time. From the earliest of memories, she was always my friend.

I wasn't always nice to her. Once, in second grade, we were jumping on an old bed in our basement, and I reached out to touch her shoulder, and ended up scratching her eye. She had to wear a patch on the eye for two weeks; I made her promise not to tell anyone that I was the one that had caused her pirate-look because I was embarrassed and afraid no one would want to be my friend if they found out this was how I treated friends. She, like a good friend, like a faithful friend, didn't tell...which made me feel even more guilty. She was so good to me, and I...wasn't.

I could fill pages with Jina Lilly stories, PAGES. She was my best, dearest friend growing up. Our history began together, because of this, she understands me like none other can. We spent hours disseminating the events of our day, the actions and motives of our classmates and friends, making sense of the world around us.

I think the best word to describe her character and her friendship is this: fidelity. She is dependable, trustworthy, loyal, and faithful. Her even-nature helped temper my enthusiasm. Her faithful nature was a good rock for my sporadic, 'adaptable,' "P" nature. I can't imagine the first 18 years of my life without her by my side. I am so thankful for her.

Today is her birthday - and I wish her many more sweet years of happiness.

[Fun birthday story: she was actually due on November 12, and I was due on November 4. She came 6 days early; I came 10 days late: even our arrivals were true to our character. I always thought it was 'so neat' that our due dates were 8 days apart, and our real arrivals were still 8 days apart.]