Thinking of You Thursday

When I graduated from High School in New Jersey, I left the state in kind of a hurry. When my acceptance to the University of Virginia came, I counted the days until I could go. And before anybody makes any smart ass comment about wanting to run from Jersey too, I just want to make it clear that it was not because I had anything against New Jersey.

I had some demons I was running from and I couldn't get out fast enough. I don't like to confront things. I have always been much better at running away.

But in my haste to leave, I didn't realize how much I would also leave behind. And how important those things, mainly the people, would come to mean to me.

One of those people is my friend, Kate*.

I grew up with Kate. We were friends since the 3rd grade and when she moved down to our little Central Jersey suburb from Brooklyn, NY, she wooed me in with her exotic little accent.

She pronounced four as "faw." Water was "wat-uh."

How cool is she? I thought. And so I immediately decided to eradicate the letter "r" from my vocabulary so I could be more like her.

Kate was beautiful. I had been battling the curly rat's nest on my head and no banana clip in the world would help. She waltzed in with her swingy, long, sandy brown hair and made me realize I was not destined to be a shampoo commercial model.

We stayed close throughout elementary school, middle school and high school. We often ran with different circles of friends but our bonds were tight and our history deep. She was the Captain of the Cheerleading team. I was more the President of National Honor Society. She went to cool parties and dated hot football players. I focused on practicing my essay writing so I could get into a good school.

(yes - yes. she was the dorky one).

Kate definitely had more social clout than I did, so I was often able to still get included in events that were way too cool for me, just by association. I made sure to take advantage of our relationship to the fullest. I mean, if she was going to work so hard at being cool and ending up on the homecoming court, I had to make sure all her hard work was for something.

I am kidding. The reality is, Kate never had to "work" for that. It was pretty effortless and it's kind of easy to fall in love with her.

But once I left for college, Kate and I slowly lost touch. Email, Facebook and social media that ties us all together today was not a reality then. We would make an effort to reconnect but over time, we lost touch.

Days became months became years.

When our ten year High School reunion was around the corner, I decided I needed to reach out to my old friend. Her parents' phone number is one I still remember and so I thought I would call it and see if her parents could give me her number.

"Hello?"

It was Kate.

Her voice reminded me of sunshine, hopscotch on the playground, skinned knees, my middle school crush (unrequited), cartwheels, eating Jolly Ranchers on the school bus, pool parties, Senior Prom, bad Jersey hair (mostly mine, not hers), hairspray, Bon Jovi, Dylan McKay from 90210, New Kids on the Block (she like Joey MacIntyre, I was a Jordan Knight fan myself), the REAL Jersey Shore and her mother's awesome Italian food.

It was home.

Since then, Kate and I have made a much better effort to stay in touch. Though I am not fortunate enough to see her as often as I would like, I will make every effort to have her in my life. Because friendships like that are too precious to ever let go.

So why am I telling you all this?

Because today, I am asking for your help with something.

I don't really write about faith and God over here. Other friends can speak about their relationship with God in a way that I just feel ill qualified to do. But I am grateful that they can so eloquently write or speak things I have such trouble expressing myself. I am thankful that they are able to express what I am still trying to work through myself. When they are close to God, I feel less guilty for my own lack of piety.

The truth is, I feel somewhat like an impostor when I venture into that arena.

But right now, I am looking to God. And I am looking to you.

You see, Kate was due to deliver her second child in February of this year. In early December, I received a call from another old high school friend informing me that Kate's water had broke. Two days later the baby came.

Very, very early.

Kate had a beautiful baby girl. At birth she weighed 1.4 pounds.

Kate, her husband, and son, along with the rest of their family and friends are praying every day. And the baby is turning out to be a real fighter. She has had some ups, she has had some downs.

But every day she fights.

It may be some time before the baby comes home from the hospital. In the meantime, Kate and Bryce are working, running their household, raising a child at home, while trying to hold it all together while being there for their little blessing, who is showing the world what a steadfast fighter she is as each day passes.

Friends and family, can you pray for Kate's baby girl? I have faith that she will be a strong, beautiful force to be reckoned with just like her mother was. IS.

I know you, like me, are summoning up all your energy to pray for the people of Haiti. While praying, please also keep Kate and her family in your thoughts.

Whether you are Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist - I ask you to put your hands together and summon up all the positive energy you can and just pray for my friend and her family. Pray that one day that this baby girl will kick some butt and takes some names as she becomes the Captain of the Cheerleading team or President of National Honor Society. Or both. That she be gracious as she turns down dates from the hot high school football dudes because she is too busy writing her own essays for HARVARD and that she is blessed with her mother's keen sense of style. (Bryce, no offense).

Every night I carry the image of Kate's baby's little hands in my head as I say my own prayer.

Thank you, friends.

And thank you, Kate. I love the fact that you are back in my life and I cannot wait till I can hug your baby girl.

(* Names have been changed. And any high school friends who can figure out who Kate is, please keep her in your thoughts and prayers - I don't really think she can handle too many emails/calls right now. It's a bit crazy so the best way to help her right now is to just pray. Thank you guys.)