I have this friend. Her name is Allison Grace, and we met in 7th grade at the silent lunch table. The silent lunch section was set on stage, sitting in the middle of the two lunch rooms, letting everyone see how you had finally pushed your teacher to the point of lunchroom table shaming. It went something like, “What are you in for?” “Talking…what are you in for?” “Skipping class.” “Cool.” (For those of you that know us, I’ll let you guess who committed what offense.)
Ally and I were always getting in trouble. The good kind of trouble where we had secrets and stories that we’re still not really cool to tell our Mamas about. She once wrote a letter of petition to my Mom after I got in to a certain kind of crazy, asking her if I could please not switch to private school; that it would be horribly unimaginable for the both of us if I transferred my Junior year and not at all healthy for me. The letter was completely unsuccessful and Mom didn’t find it as funny as she might now. So we lived the rest of high school apart but still completely together in heart, knowing we were each other’s person and that nothing would really change.
Before this race I set out on, when I first felt God poking my heart and idly bookmarking webpages without having any idea what I was getting into, I first called Ally. I drove to Mooresville and we planned a midnight gym sesh. I told her what I wanted to do, and I asked her if I was crazy. She laughed and said I was, then told me to go for it, and that maybe, just maybe, this was the plan God had all along. Maybe this was why I had never really felt settled, in a job, with a person, with life, because my heart was being prepared to roam the world with Jesus for a while first. We made all sorts of plans to save money, see the world, roadtrip, and start over somewhere outside of our small town after my year of finding myself.
The entire week before I left for a year with only a backpack and a will for a new start, Ally stayed with me. She sat in my floor with me, cluttered with packing cubes and unflattering dry fit gear and bug sprays. It was like procrastination and overwhelmed met and had a love child that swallowed up my floor and I was helpless, sitting there drowning in all my things and wondering why I’d just paid all REI employees their weekly incomes and how the heck do you use a Lifestraw?
I don’t know that a lot of people would have recommended quitting your job in a shaky economy, giving up your conveniently located three bedroom apartment and traveling third world countries with 40 strangers and a backpack. But Ally did. That’s that thing, that rare, beautiful thing. When we find those friends who unselfishly push us out of our comfort zones and on to scary stages, the richer and better our lives become. Ally has taught me what it means to be a friend. So here’s to you, babe. I can’t wait to show you what God’s done with me.
Proverbs 18:24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
