Jill

Those of you who work know exactly what I mean when I say that I spend most of my waking hours at my job. It’s not all bad, but not really much fun either. I’ve always jokingly said that I’m a stay at home mom trapped inside the body of a working woman. I’ve met many people over the course of my working years, some good and some not so good. When I came to work at Lexington Center I promised myself that I wasn’t going to get personally involved with anyone. Why? Sometimes work relationships just get weird. Or, you become really good friends with someone and then one of you gets another job. As you may have guessed, I broke my promise. And I’m very glad that I did or I would have missed out on a few wonderful friendships. One of those would be my very dear friend, Jill.

On Tuesday we will be saying good-bye to Jill as she seeks greener pastures on the other side of the fence. No more early morning walks to Starbucks for the sweet elixir of life. No more walks to Sam’s Hot Dog Stand to sit out in the fresh air and sunshine. Work life is going to get a little less fun and a lot more boring. But the thing that I will miss the most is simply my friend. I can’t really remember how we came to be friends but over the years as we’ve shared many conversations we’ve learned that we have a lot in common. We are both the youngest in our family with siblings who are several years older than we are. We were both raised on a farm. We are both married to city boys who couldn’t tell the difference between dairy cattle and beef cattle if their lives depended on it. We were both raised in small Baptist churches, where we both still attended until only recently. And we both lost our mothers far too soon to the evils of cancer.

Jill, we have shared a lot of laughs and getting to know you has been a blast. But the purpose of this post is to let you know, sister, just how much you have meant to me over these past 8 ½ years. We’ve seen each other through a lot of things, the most tragic of those being just a year ago when I lost Christy. I can’t thank you enough for being there for me during the darkest days of my life. Thank you just seems so inadequate. You’ve been my shoulder to cry on over and over and over and I know you will be again, anytime I need it. I’m so very grateful that God brought us together. You have certainly been a faithful friend and trustworthy confidante. I pray that God blesses you abundantly as you seek this new venture in your life. I vow to keep in touch with you but when I fail, would you please pick up my slack? I know you hate mushiness but I want you to know..... I love you friend and I truly hope that you know just how much you’ve blessed me.

I’ll keep praying for you as you keep praying for me.

Already dreading Wednesday morning,
Julie