Friends are people that had no prior obligation to like you, or even to love you.
Circa 2006.
One of the things I treasure most in my life is the friendship with Miss Hannah Elaine Atwell, also known as Roxy Bottoms from time to time. I’d like to take a post here to love on her by displaying six ways that she blows me away with her friendship and how she loves like Jesus.
She knows my faults.
I cannot seem to realize that I’m an untidy roommate. My radar for “this needs to be put away” is broken (my parents attest this must be a defect that came upon delivery). What looks like a neat pile of belongings in the corner to me is a blaring un-kept mess to her. She even ventures to pick up my things on occasion as a gentle reminder that “one of these does not belong”- what a sweet soul. But beyond my habits, she also knows the faults of my ugly pride. And she loves me, still.
She listens.
We used to endure the pain of commuting every week more than we’d like to admit. And lots of car time = lots of time to fill. Everything comes up for discussion, like the questions I pose: “How does our skin stay in place?” and “How many people/who would I need to text if you died?” And after laughing, we actually have these weird conversations that we can’t have with anyone else. But she also listens on days when I am angry, heartbroken, confused, amazed, and in awe of how glorious God’s love is. And through all that rambling, she loves me, still.
She lifts me up.
She is great at delivering a real sobering dose of reality. She shares truth and light for hard situations that I sometimes do not want to hear, but obviously need. And she also fills up my bucket of confidence when she reminds me about my heart. She celebrates with me and points out the good things (we can all do this more for each other). She really does love me.
She chose forgiveness.
Oh what a blessing it is that we all grow out of our teenage mindsets. In a pivotal life-lesson for myself (in hindsight, of course), I easily shattered our newly developed friendship by breaking her trust and running to her parents with news that radically altered an entire year of her life- her Senior year of high school, nonetheless. And as the closest friend I had should have forgotten about me entirely, her only (text) message to me after was “I love you.” We both grew up that day. We really do love each other.
She exemplifies beauty.
Hannah is a beauty, inside and out. She does so many things that remind me of the love of Christ that bookmark in my mind as “remember to do this more.” We love to talk about God/Jesus, and – oh yeah- she is a major component of my faith journey (read that here). Her care for others, joy for children, and open honesty are all qualities that build into her beauty. With her red hair and big beautiful eyes, she’s got that “Twinkle” I’ve been telling everyone about that allows her to know no stranger- literally we ran into someone her family from Missouri knew while we were on the beach in Guatemala. And even though I’m often like the little sidekick (exaggerating), I love her and my life would be radically less colorful without her friendship.
We dance together.
To top everything off, there’s this mystical, spiritual connection that is shared among dancers that weaves in between the other layers of our friendship, lacing it all together. Dance allows us to express so many emotions in an unspoken way and when you get to share that every week with great people, special bonds form. Funny enough, our first known acquaintance was through middle school cheerleading (a form of physical movement/expression) where the only words exchanged were “1-2-Down-Up.” Since then, we danced together at high school dance team competitions, on Palm Sunday, at the local arts center, in traditional India garb, and even out in Los Angeles. So it seems dance has been a great back-bone for us, an unspoken bond that, I dare to say, is unbreakable.
Hannah reflects 1 Cor. 16:14 in so many ways. And her spunk makes life really, really fun, as all the greatest friends are obligated to do. I’m so thankful of her support for the upcoming year, despite it meaning we’ll be living separate lives for this first time in about 3 years. But she knows how to face-time! And the words I don’t say enough: I love you, Hannah Elaine! Give your special friends an extra hug today.
To lighten the mood a bit, enjoy this mini-photo-tour of our dance careers thus far.
(Apologetically, & THANKFULLY, we do not have any horrid middle school cheerleading pictures together… that we know of.)
High school football performance in 2006.
Co-captain & Captain with our team award for 2007 “Best of the Best!” I don’t know why we are surprised.
I bet Hannah thought I forgot about this picture… dancing at the Valentine’s Dinner for church in 2010.
Yes, that’s us. Rehearsing with our traditional Indian dance troupe in 2012. Authentic Indian costuming!
Our trio in 2013 as French Maids! We had too much fun and love every minute we get to match in costume!
With Art In Motion dance company taking class in LA in 2013. An accurate depiction of us on the left. 🙂
