A Mind Unafraid to Travel: Deep Magic

How do you start a story that involves so many good memories? Where do you begin? How do you start to tell someone how special a person has been when you've known them almost your entire life? How do you explain how you know them when they've been involved in every piece of your life, including family, even if they aren't related by blood? How do you tell the story of a friendship that started even before the two of you were born? This is the struggle I'm having with beginning the story of my friendship with Mary.

My parents moved from Long Island to Connecticut when my sister was just shy of a year old and ended up at a small start-up church in Danbury. While my mother took care of my sister in the nursery, she befriended the pastor's wife who had a daughter just two weeks older than my sister. My parents didn't stay long at this church and didn't become life long friends with the pastor or his wife, but a friendship started that still lasts today.

When I was about ten or eleven years old, my family started going to another church in a neighboring town. We became heavily involved almost immediately and I met a girl who also happened to go to my school, although I did not know her very well since I was a year younger. She happened to be the second child of the pastor and his wife from the church so many years ago. My sister, her sister, and the two of us became inseparable. We were a group of four best friends. As pre-teens do, we began to hangout almost all the time. We participated in girl scouts through junior high school, survived youth group together and remained friends even though we went in opposite directions for our college experiences. Yet, we stayed in touch. Something was special. I lost touch with many of my friends from high school and youth group, but the four of us never went a holiday without getting together. A lifetime friendship between all of us had formed. To this day I call her older sister my "other older sister" and we all take care of each other. We've gone through some pretty difficult times in our personal lives and I am so proud to say that she has been there for me through it all - and I for her. There are just those people who are made from the same cloth, and you know them when you meet them.

Mary's birthday outing to NYC - 2007

Christmas holiday photo shoot - 2006

Oh good lord... 2005 maybe?

Our friend Hannah's wedding - 2007

Christmas photo shoot - 2006

Summer evening drive through Brookfield - 2007

Summer evening shadows - 2007

(Hmm, I wish I had older photos from when we were little. I don't seem to have digital copies of those photos, which makes sense. Maybe I'll dig through old photos next time I'm home...)

I am so happy for my friend who has found a wonderful man. I cannot begin to tell you how many nights we have stayed up talking about our future husbands; what our weddings will be like and how many children we will have. Mary always had a flair for the dramatic and for awhile thought it would be quite romantic to have a soldier as a fiancee who dies in action and she lives a miserable life in memory of her love. I'm glad to report this is not how her life turned out. How hard that would've been! She has found a man that will remain with her, stand by her side in the Lord. They have been called to serve Him in the church, a vision that I could never do but one she has been given the grace and passion for. Mary is beautiful, smart, caring and best of all, my dear friend. I am so happy for her and the life she has begun with her new husband. Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Chris and Mary Duncan!