But you won't try my most favorite Mary Kay product on at any make up party.
Ten years ago, I'd been married for just about 20 months. While I loved being married and totally enjoyed the company of my new husband, I felt lonely and really needed some girlfriends.
I began to pray that God would bring a best friend into my life, not realizing that he'd been orchestrating a special friendship for years.
One day, Kathy, a friend from church, invited me to be her guest at her Mary Kay meeting. How could I resist? I'm a girly girl who loves playing with make up, and I was excited to hang out with Kathy. That night at the meeting, I got hooked. Mary Kay was for me! I loved the product, the company seemed great, and it seemed like a fun group of women who I needed at that time. It wasn't long after that that I signed my agreement and started my own Mary Kay business.
Just weeks into my new business venture, I met another brand new consultant. Her name was Michelle. We hit it off immediately, and I felt an instant bond with her. She was just darling; she had a beautiful smile, and such a sweet, gentle spirit. We happened to both work as secretaries at churches in the same town, so we scheduled to meet for lunch one day - "Noodles at Noon!"
It turns out that we had a bunch of friends in common. She had friends in college who I knew in high school, and vice versa. How had we not met before this? Also, we both spent separate summers in British Columbia for mission trips, and stayed with the same host family for those summers! We were chatting about it one day when I remembered that there was a picture over my bed that one of the children had drawn. After looking at my photo album from the trip, we saw it: there was a rainbow... and the name "Michelle." Not only had we stayed in the same house (a year apart), we had slept in the same bed! It was so fun to discover all of the ways God had crossed our paths.
That first lunch date at Noodles was followed by many, many more. I knew immediately that God had brought Mary Kay into my life so that I'd meet Michelle. I was so thankful to have a buddy at my Mary Kay meetings, and we even attended Seminar in Dallas together. Here we are posing with a cardboard cut-out of Mary Kay herself:
Years later, our kids are buddies and each time we're all together, we're just tickled at all that's happened during our friendship. Michelle's even been in town to visit me in the hospital twice!
Carson and Emma are exactly one month apart, Livi and Addie are almost exactly two months apart, and Spencer and Chloe are not quite three months apart. (And Brody just fits right in the mix.) Can it get any closer?
I was hanging on the edge of my seat for this last product...I knew it had to be good. I completely agree with everything you said about that sweet girl. So now we have to add consistency to all her traits we love. That is so cool to hear about all the things you had in common, even before meeting!!
ReplyDeleteAngie! I was waiting in suspense for the last product, too, and was not disappointed. This quote by CS Lewis on the death of his friend describes exactly how I feel:
ReplyDelete"In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets. Now that Charles is dead, I shall never again see Ronald's reaction to a specifically Caroline joke. Far from having more of Ronald, having him 'to myself' now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald. Hence true Friendship is the least jealous of loves. Two friends delight to be joined by a third, and three by a fourth, if only the newcomer is qualified to become a real friend. They can then say, as the blessed souls say in Dante, 'Here comes one who will augment our loves.'"
Love you! And our Michelle, too!
I love this! How awesome to have a friend sent by God. (You'll have to tell me what you did to get him to answer you...I've been praying for YEARS (YEARS!) for God to bring me a true BFF, and I'm still waiting.) Anyway, sweet post and funny pics. I've actually seen those old MK pics of you two and the one of you with your firstborn babies. ?? I'm not sure when or how, but I remember. And I remember that hilarious pic of her little boy crying beside Chloe.
ReplyDeleteThis is actually kinda weird but I found Michelle's blog last year either right before or right after our anniversary trip to California. Her header at the time was a pic of the area that we went to and I left her a comment. She replied that she'd seen my name/link on your blog and was one of your good friends. It was CRAZY! Small world, huh?
ReplyDeleteWhat a blessing to have such a special friend in your life. True friends are a gift from God. I loved reading your journey to find her! God is so good!
ReplyDeleteSo grateful for you, friend! Thanks for this post, it was so sweet and fun and totally makes me miss you! Carson's cheeks crack me up.....I never realized how big they really were till I look back on pictures like that....woah! And look how much older we look at the birth of Chloe and little Spency. ha!
ReplyDeleteLove you!
Aw, love this post. :) (& Michelle, too!)
ReplyDeleteAnd- I think I was at that MK conference, wasn't I Michelle? I remember going to one in Dallas.... hmmm..... I will have to look back & see if we were there together?