Goodness

Today, my very dear friend, Kaitlyn from Put A Bow On It, tweeted me about a post she may or may not write for tomorrow. It's about something that happened to her in middle school. I'm not going to write about it until she posts first, so I can link her story to it when I talk about it, but I will say that she handled the situation with grace and poise no seventh grader really possesses in real life.

I suppose I should say that she doesn't know that I've been blogging for a whole, what...13 days. I started this blog after she tweeted about her blog publicly to all her twitter followers. I'm already a pretty avid blog follower, so adding her's to the mix was pretty natural. Seeing what she committed to putting out into cyber space was extremely encouraging. Then again, Kaitlyn is extremely encouraging in real life. It made me want to try my hand at blogging again. I've decided I will tell her that I'm back on the blog wagon after I can say I've been actively posting 3 times a week or dang close to that for at least a month (unless she magically finds me, in which case that would be totally welcome and pretty flipping neat considering how many blogs are out there). I want to build some permanency with myself, so I'm cementing blogging into part of my routine before telling the people I know "in real life". 

So, by the time she finds this post it will be old and dusty, but no less true. 

Kaitlyn is actually my oldest friend that I wasn't born into being friends with. My family moved from Oklahoma City to Houston when I was two and a half and Michael (my brother) was three months old. My mom was painting, or house hunting, or something (shockingly, I don't really remember this being two and a half and all...) so my parents' closest friends from college who also happened to be close friends with Kaitlyn's family brought me to Kaitlyn's house for a pool party so my mom could have a break from a toddler and an infant. We met in the plastic baby pool and have been friends ever since. Considering that there are few things I've done for 23 years straight, the fact that we're still friends continues to impress me. 

Kaitlyn is a ball of sunshine, glitter, grace, and joy. You should be so lucky to count her as a friend, and if nothing else, you should for sure follow her blog. She is the type of friend you wish all friends were, most sincerely. She has always had a ready smile, a certain humbleness that is genuine and refreshing, an excellent competitive spirit that never bordered on obnoxious (which is impressive considering our schools play each other in football occasionally and we're both desperately passionate about our teams that meet on the gridiron), and a way of laughing at herself that never made me feel inferior to someone like her with as much star power as she truly possesses. Now, I'm about 105% sure she wouldn't believe these things to be as utterly true as I believe them to be, but I would like to direct you back to the part about being humble as evidence to support my case. 

Anyhow, Kaitlyn was the most beautiful bride I've ever seen. I have a funny perspective on lace wedding dresses. I think you have to possess a certain something to pull off the timelessness, the elegance, the sincerity that lace embodies to me. I don't think I could pull off lace. Actually, I'm almost certain I couldn't wear a lace dress based on my thing about them. My mom and I talked about how stunning she was in her lace dress, and it occurred to me that it was a combination of things. The first thing; she radiated joy on that day. It was show stopping. The second, and more true of my friend, was her goodness. 

I googled goodness looking for just the right definition to explain exactly why she was perfect in her lace dress. I found it. Dictionary.com says that goodness is, "the best part of anything; essence; strength". This could not be more fitting of Kaitlyn or made it more appropriate for her to wear lace on her wedding day. 

Kaitlyn and Andre at the wedding  ::  Kaitlyn and me age 6 at a dance recital  ::  Mrs. Stowe, Kaitlyn and me            

So, I'm a lucky friend. I will always wish that time and distance didn't do what time and distance like to do to friends, but I am beyond blessed to call her someone I know, much less a close friend even if we haven't gotten to be so very close these last few years. She is one of those people that I realize I have missed quite dearly when I come across something that reminds me of her. Reading her blog has that effect with every new post. 

So, check out Put A Bow On It and love on Kaitlyn bunches. You won't regret it.