I stated in an earlier post that I wanted to introduce my "old” friends to my "new" friends.
Jonag is my first pick because many of you are already familiar with her from her comments at IMAO and elsewhere and because the only other person here that I've known longer is Bob (Bear) and being the gentleman that he is, he'll insist, "ladies, first". Besides, his story intersects with hers so I'll lay the foundation for both their stories here.
Jonag and I met sometime in either late 1984 or 1985. I was a newlywed and she was this beautiful, bubbly, slightly wild but VERY funny auburn-headed girl who had a laugh like no other and had just walked into our dear friend Joey's life. I'm going to have to back up, though...
I met Joey when I was 16. He was in a youth choir that was traveling the states one summer and he wound up staying in my home with a few other choir mates. I can't say I spent much time getting to know him (there were WAY too many guys to be checking out to limit myself to one! ha) but 2 years later....this brand new freshman at a private college far from home is walking across campus and what do I see? I see a boy...in his preppy little bow-tie, sitting on a bench eating lunch. "I KNOW HIM! I KNOW HIM!" I was so excited to see a familiar face...of course, I wasn't too sure he would remember me so I kept this discovery to myself for a while.
To make a long story short, my husband and I started dating and he was good friends with Joey. It wasn't long before we were hanging out at his parent’s house, eating their food, watching their TV and generally making ourselves at home. We would do that for the next 22 years. :-)
So back to jonag. If you were to meet Jona for the first time, I suspect your immediate impressions would be as follows: Beautiful. Highly intelligent. Passionate. Quick witted. What you will soon discover, though, is how fabulously talented she is, how well-informed she is, and how wise she is. This is one girl with her head on straight and her ducks in a row.
And speaking of ducks...she has 4 young ones that she is doing a fantastic job raising. Like I said, she's a passionate woman and there's nothing she cares about more than raising good, God-fearing conservatives to take over the world. HA!
I think another defining characteristic of Jona's is her desire to continue growing and changing. Every time I'm with her, I see a marked difference. She's never stagnate, never the same and always better. I love that about her.
There are so many memories we've shared but the ones I treasure the most are the ones where we were just living life:
I remember the Friday nights where they would just drop in with pizza and a movie knowing full well that my husband wouldn't get to stick around because he had studying to do but they came anyway.
Or the night I called Joey at 1am because I was in labor and he was going to come and stay with my 3 year old. Now THAT'S a good friend! (and my son's reaction when he found Joey asleep in our bed and not mommy and daddy was priceless. Just priceless.)
Then there was the time we had just moved out of our house and uh...had nowhere to go and they let us "move in". It still makes me cry just thinking about it...
You see, those are the memories that mean so much to me because the older you get, the more you value the friends who've stuck with you through the thick and the thin of life. The ones that were there when life was good and they were there when life was hard. I can honestly say that there were times when it seemed Joey and Jona were the only friends who hung in there with us--who made the effort to give when we had nothing to give in return. They've shared their parents with us, their home with us, their faith, their amazing culinary fetes, their "junky cars" ;-) but most of all, they shared themselves.
I am so glad to call Joey and Jona our dearest friends and I am thankful to have such wonderful people to go through this journey with. I love them with all my heart.
P.S. When Jona gets her lazy butt out of bed (wink wink) I will get the link to show you one of her many talents. The women are gonna wanna see this!
Posted by PamCHBF at March 4, 2005 06:29 AM