Friends

Said goodbye to Julie and her kids today.

She is one of the biggest supporters of our farm and one of my dearest friends. It is hard to know how to thank her. She sees what we need and jumps in to help. Yesterday she was exhausted from a busy trip up north. She donned barn shoes, grabbed a broom and headed out with me to take care of Monday muck out. She always eats what I cook and acts like it is a gourmet meal, even when it isn't.

She gifts me with dinners out when I see her, she brings me boxes of figs from her tree, she showers us with the most delicious homemade strawberry jam known to mankind. She skims cream and makes butter for me, nobody in this house finds that task entertaining anymore. She has an amazing capacity to give.

I would love Julie even if she never swept the barn, made the butter or made me business cards ever again. I love her because she is my friend and we have shared many moments of life together, good moments and not so good. Our children are growing up like cousins. They used to be babies, now they are not.

We have prayed together, wept together, thanked God together. I thank God for Julie, and for the other friends God has brought into my life. Some for a short while, others, like Julie, walk alongside for years.

Don't know how to say thanks, Julie, for all you have done, so I will say thank you to God, and ask Him to pay you back.

We will see you before too long...