This Is Dedicated to My Friend

Today is Iva's Birthday.  Iva has been my friend ever since a church trip to Fort Worth the Winter of my Sophomore Year in High School.  I had never met her before the trip, but, by the time we returned to the church after a weekend of church-y stuff and a TCU-A&M football game, we had mutually decided that we were destined to be friends forever.

I have so many wonderful memories of those days.  Days before jobs (real ones, anyway), bills, families of our own, and adult life in general.  When what we worried about most was if we were really going to get away with going to the bowling alley instead of going to a church Super Bowl party (we really should have been bigger football fans.  Or at least had it playing on the radio).  If my memory serves me correctly, I was the "bad" friend between the two of us.  The rebel, the troublemaker, you get the idea.  Thankfully, my rebel-ness was not so bad compared to what kids these days are doing.

So Iva and I lived in the same area for a couple of years until one day, like a ton of bricks, the Ware family decided to move to Arizona.  The friend who I thought would be around forever was swept away from my life.  I thought for sure that I would not survive the rest of my life without her.

Little did I know that the little girl would stay in my heart forever.  That no matter how many years it's been since I've seen her face or hugged her neck (15 years), that she will always be my best friend.  I have had very few friends since those days that have come close to touching my life as much as Iva did.  I'm thankful for those friends, and hope that when they read this they don't think I love them any less.  There's enough room in my heart for all of you, and it would be so very awesome if I could just have all of you here with me at the same time for the rest of my life.  Oh, the stories you girls could tell!!!!

Here is my philosophy on why people come in and out of our lives.  I really feel that God places people that affect us in our lives at certain times for a reason.  I think it's because He knows that we need them right then, though we may never know why.  Some stay there forever, always available.  Some only stay a little while and move on, never to be heard from again.  Then there are those that will always be in our hearts, no matter how long they were around, or how long it's been.  Iva is one of those to me.  Thank God for social media, as it makes the miles between us only a measurement, and not a reality.

So today, on your Birthday, as you celebrate another year of catching up to me (I'm still 6 months older.  Geeesh...doesn't sound as cool as it used to), I want you to know that, as always, you are in my heart.  Even though we are almost a continent apart, the string that you tied around my soul must be made out of some really stretchy material, for it is always there, ready to lead me back to you the moment you need me, or I need you.

Good Times