doing hard together.

If you know me at all, you know one of my passions is the theatre. (I hope you said that in your best Shakespearean accent) I was bit by the acting bug when I was in elementary school. My parents enrolled me and my best friend in an acting class offered through our city's rec department. I still haven't talked with my mom about why they did this. Perhaps she needed to get the number four child out of the house for a few hours a week. But it worked. I fell in love with all things theater. The opportunity to channel my energy to something that was outside of the normal felt good. It wasn't until my sophomore year of high school when my English teacher, who happened to be a family friend as well, dared me to audition for the musical play that year. Yes, I said musical. I was sixteen and invincible. It wasn't as if my life revolved around acting now that I had a couple of elementary plays under my belt. But for some odd reason, I took on the dare. I decided that day to show up for auditions. No preparation. No change of outfit. No monologue to perform or song to sing. I just showed up. In a maroon Harvard sweatshirt that was my sisters; ripped Coca Cola faded jeans. And really big hair. I think I did a cold reading of something because the director felt obligated as he knew Mrs. Feenstra sent me to the audition without a prepared monologue. I am sure he rolled his eyes as he asked me to sing my song that I had. "I don't have a song but I could sing The Star Spangled Banner!" Oh my. I am old enough now to know that this song is hard to sing with accompaniment but A cappella?!? I was up for a challenge and way too confident. I bellowed that song as my voice bounced off the walls of the empty theater. I stood on that stage and felt right at home. I was bit by the acting bug. There was no turning back. That dare turned into the lead of a musical, "No, No, A Million Times No." Not only did the role in the play that year land me a solo but it introduced me to relationships that would last a life time.

me as "Birdie Seed"

Jen as "Emmaline" (center stage)

One of those friendships was with Jennifer. She was a year older than me. We cheered together. We acted together. She, too, had a role in the play as my daughter, Emmaline. We were Catholic together. And we laughed together. A lot. I loved hanging out with Jennifer.
Unfortunately, we lost track of each other. She graduated and went off to college. I had another year of high school to complete and we didn't stay connected.
About six years ago, I was having lunch with a friend at a local restaurant and Jennifer came over to my table. It was great to see her but I was in a wheelchair and had a service dog now. I felt odd. Did she know my story? We exchanged pleasantries, laughed away the awkwardness and she left. I thought it would be rare to ever see her again. Then, the week before Christmas this year, Jen messaged me on Facebook and told me she has been diagnosed with a brain tumor and would like to get together. Gulp.
Now we're doing hard together.
We made plans for this Saturday. When we met up, it was as if we were going to cheer and have rehearsal for the play. Twenty three years have passed. Life has been lived. A lot of it. There were stories to tell. A lot of them. And this brain tumor.

In a Jen kind of way, she entered  my story about FA with such grace. Total acceptance. And major love. I can only hope that I can be in her corner while she fights this tumor, as she is in mine as I fight FA.  We decided to grab something to eat downtown at Crane's. Neither one of us had ever been there for lunch. Our conversation continued as we ate our soup and salad. A hour had quickly passed and out of the corner of my eye I could see two college aged girls walking toward our table. I immediately became annoyed as I thought they were going to ask about my service dog, Barkley. I wasn't in the mood to be interrupted.  Couldn't they see we were in a deep conversation?! I continued to focus on Jen, secretly hoping that would will their curiosity away. Jen made eye contact with them. I took a deep breath and resolved myself to the politeness that needed to follow after they asked me about Barkley.
"Excuse me", one of the girls said to Jen,"we're from Hope College and we were wondering if there is something you are facing that we can pray about?"
WHAT???!!
I looked up from my salad and looked at Jen. I need to be honest and tell you my cynicism kicked in. This is weird, I thought to myself but I'll play along. Not knowing if Jen would want to share, I looked at her and said, "Are you okay with telling them?" "Absolutely!" She proceeded to introduce us and told them we were good friends in high school but we haven't gotten together in over 20 years. She said she has been recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. "Holly has a diagnosis of Freidriech's Ataxia and I wanted to get together with her. So here we are!"
"Why us?" I asked. One of the girls pulled out a piece of paper and showed us what she had written on it.  "We were at the school asking God who He wanted us to pray for and encourage. For some reason, I wrote the name Jenny. Do people call you Jenny?" she looked up at Jen.
Jen laughed, nodded and said, "Yea! So why did you come here?"
The other girl sheepishly got her paper out and said she kept sensing the word 'pie'. "The only thing we could think was that He wanted us to go to Crane's."
This was bizarre but my heart was softening and my eyes growing a bit misty. "Can we get our friends who came with us and pray for you?" one of the smiley, soft- spoken girl asked.
Jen welcomed them over and we made introductions again. One of the girls shared our story to the other two friends and the guy who joined us quietly said, "He just showed me a blond girl so that's why we came over here." Jen invited him to sit at our table and he did so with his piece of paper.
By this time, I had full blown tears. Those four college students surrounded us with such love as they prayed words of God's grace and healing over our lives. I thanked them for their courage and asked them if they were nervous to approach us. "You have no idea!" one of the girls replied.
And she's spot-on. I have no idea.
Twenty four years ago "Birdie Seed" and "Emmaline" had no idea what "they" were going to face. But He did. And He chose to remind us that He knows what Jen and I are facing. He does. He was with us back then, He is with us now and He will be with us in the future.

May I never forget that.

A selfie with our new friends

And may I never forget this.