Random Encounters

I’m sitting here on my couch trying really hard to come up with a topic tonight and I have to admit – I’m coming up blank.

I actually had a really fun evening catching up with a family that’s been a part of my world (and I a part of theirs, I guess) for something like 23 years. And you know…it’s because one member of this family’s daughter went to the same preschool as my youngest son. A random encounter that resulted in a lasting friendship.

Deep Run Friendship

The heading I chose for this portion of my post has a double meaning that makes me smile. The preschool that our kids attended was Deep Run Presbyterian Preschool, a sweet little school run out of the lower level of – you guessed it – the Deep Run Presbyterian Church.

But of course the reason the heading makes me smile is because the friendship struck up between Janet and me is actually the epitome of a Deep Run friendship. That’s because we’ve been through a lot of thick and thin in both our lives, since that fateful day when our adorable little three year olds shared story-time and the sliding board.

We’ve each endured some of the most painful losses in life with the other reliably, lovingly, at our side. And there have been so many more sweet, celebratory moments we’ve shared, allowing our Deep Run friendship to flow not only through our lives but also the lives of our extended families.

Deep Run Family

It’s cliché to say that you can’t pick your family but you can pick your friends. The fact is, Janet and I picked each other and in many ways, over the past 23 years, our friendship has created family. And its ‘family’ that runs deep.

Tonight one of Janet’s sisters celebrated her 60^thbirthday and Karl and I were invited to join in the surprise. I’d write more, but the party went long and late, and I have to admit, I’m struggling to stay awake.

But I wanted to pay tribute to the amazing ways our lives have of threading into and around the lives of others. How choosing a random preschool can result in a friendship that extends throughout a lifetime – and weaves even deeper when the friends, and their family, become our family.

Happy birthday, Carol! (Oooh! Maybe one sister Carol should receive the other sister Carol’s famous Chocolate Cake.) Here you go!