Meet Luke
He’s my best friend from college. Today is his birthday!
You may be thinking, Darcie — this entry is wasting my time. This has literally nothing to do with the race. Well. I see where you’re coming from, but you couldn’t be further from the truth.
Luke is my #1 fan
We lived on the same floor freshman year at TCU and have been neighbors ever since. We’ve done just about everything under the sun together. Road trips, study groups, formal dates, lively nights out, lazy nights in, family vacations, weddings, spring breaking — you name it. We slay all dance floors. He’s approximately the only human that can make me cry. We have memorized each other’s “faces,” know each other’s Chick-fil-A order, and have perfected most duet-able karaoke songs. He is the Amy Poehler to my Tina Fey. The night cheese to my shower s’more, if you will.
we have too many pictures together
The best thing about him, though?
Luke totally embodies Proverbs 17:17
“a friend loves at all times”
Even though he’s in DC and I’m — well, in a new country every other second — Luke has been such a big part of my race. How? He treats me like a normal human being! It’s the best thing.
Not many people do that nowadays. Not even my own family has it down. He has kept our friendship as normal as can be – which is the greatest gift I didn’t even know I would need. While others may forget to keep up, dramatize what I’m doing, or try and make our friendship something it’s never been, Luke stays solid.
For me, that’s what a good friend on the race does. They do the hard job of preserving the nature of your normal friendship by providing consistency and adding joy to the journey.
exhibits A & B
Luke totally does this. He keeps up with his normal life, but lets me know that mine is important to him, too.
I can always count on texts quoting something (usually 30 Rock) to make me laugh — just like I have been able to since 2009.
He changes his Google alerts on the 1st of each month to the country I’m living in. Then proceeds to make sure I’m OK each time political unrest/natural disasters creep up. What a champ.
There’s almost always a ridiculous Snap Chat waiting for me whenever I get wifi. It’s usually Luke at work. Classic. Just like back in Texas.
He still sends me more BuzzFeed articles than I’ll ever have the internet capacity to appreciate. But I love it.
He keeps his famous Spotify playlist, The List, updated so I know the “hip tunes” that the “kids these days” are listening to. As always.
I still got to FaceTime his family on Christmas (the whole #HarvilleClan) just like I would back home when we’re apart for the holidays.
I can always count on him to send me “kitten sweet” encouragement. Usually when I need it most, just because that’s how God’s timing works. Luke is faithful to pray for me and asks how he can. He doesn’t sweep faith under the rug.
christmas morning with the Harvilles. also, Luke sporting a halo.
His friendship provides something sadly foreign that each racer needs: consistency. This is a year of moving and changing and growing and stripping and filling and packing and unpacking and languages and currencies — multiplied by eleven. Having something consistent on the race is the perfect sip of coffee. It’s the feeling of putting on your favorite sweatshirt straight from the dryer. It’s seat heaters. Consistency is comforting. Consistency looks different in every relationship. Even though it’s an 11-month journey of abandonment, a certain level of comfort is healthy on the race, I believe.
It takes a special breed of human to be able to keep up a consistent, healthy friendship with someone on the Race. I am more than lucky that my best happens to be that special breed. I’m crazy thankful for the time, effort and heart that goes behind his maintaining our friendship. Just like normal.
So. All this to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Luke Leon! You add joy to this journey. You are important in the way I am able to thrive on the field. Here’s to your 23rd year of living a life that runs on love.
Cheers to Chick-fil-A sauce, naaaaaps, and to slaying all dance floors,
Darcie
PS: Luke, I’m so happy that Asia is more than just a continent.
Also, this exists:
