Road Trip

Sometimes you just need your best friends.

I got back to Minnesota (from Europe) drained. Emotionally drained from all the good and bad and realized that while I had had a steady stream of emotional outpour I was running on low myself—I realized that very little in-pour had happened this summer. It was time. I knew where I needed to go. So I called Karissa and asked if I could drive out. Then I told Abby I was going…just to see if she could make it happen. Didn’t take much for her to be in on the weekend.

The morning after the retreat I hit the road to Utah and spent 2 days by myself in a car with Tolstoy, stopped in Denver to sleep and spend some quality time with my sister and then arrived here in Utah on Tuesday. I leave Utah tomorrow, but this has been good. And the mountains…ahhhhh….

Karissa and her husband Matt are foster parents. There’s been a lot of outpour from their lives too in the last year as well. Abby’s in a better place than she feels she’s been in a while and, seriously, talk about a breath of fresh air to all be together! I never cease to be amazed at how blessed I am in these two. On the friendship front, God has been incredibly good to me.

Every once in a while (usually exactly when I need it) I am reminded of what the deepness of friendship can mean. None of us are blind to each other’s faults and we’ve walked through a lot of ugly together. So. Many. Tears. But the joy—oh the joy. And the grace. Wow. I think I needed to be reminded that I have this beautiful thing in Abby and Karissa and to be filled up by it. It’s amazing how I can be filled by them just “being them” and just knowing that they know me and they know me well and not only do they still love me but they love me very, very deeply and they still respect me.

And it’s mutual. I feel as if I’ve very poorly summarized what these two mean to me but beyond all that I’m not sure I have words. So, suffice it to say, I needed to come to Utah and I’m so glad I hopped in that car. I’ll go home filled up. :)

(Day 5)