Two years ago, on a rare sunny and warm summer day in Brussels, my best friend (who had flown across two oceans to be with me in my valley) and I sat on my back deck and marveled at how weird life can be. She was there because my husband had moved out after asking for a divorce. This was after painful months of learning of his infidelities and trying to save our marriage. I wasn’t eating or sleeping and was trapped in Belgium as I waited for the military to move me back to the US. She brought blue skies and laughter with her, and sitting out in the sunshine was balm to my body, soul, and mind. And even more strange, we were using her iPad to watch her husband appear in episodes of a French reality show.

Life is funny, y’all.

We could have never dreamed up that scenario. As we reflected on it, we wondered where we’d be the next summer.

Well, the next summer found me with a full life in Georgia, and meeting up with her in Portland, Oregon, as I joined up with CAbi.

And this summer, we caught up again, meeting in Denver for CAbi, and then in Georgia where she was seeing her son graduate from boot camp at Ft. Benning. We marveled that our annual check-in this time found us praying that her son could successfully toss a grenade and celebrating my upcoming marriage!

I can’t begin to guess what will be going on by next summer!

Surprised,

*sometimes it’s haha funny and sometimes it’s strange funny. and sometimes it’s a combination of the two.