I first met Holly when I was a 20 year old newlywed who had just moved to town. She was also relatively new to town and we landed in the same small church.

I remember the moment clearly when I knew Holly was a “kindred spirit” as Anne of Green Gables puts it.

I was in her home as I had been several times before, but it was the first time I had gone upstairs into her family room. There was the expected toys and futon and television set. Tucked into a corner was a small desk with an old colorful, folding wooden chair. When I saw the chair my mouth dropped open. On the seat of the chair was a large colorful daisy which she had painted on it as a teenager. The legs and back of the chair were painted in stripes of the same colors used for the daisy.

Her quality artwork is not what shocked me, but its familiarity.  I had a chair at home that I had painted in the same way as a teen! My color palette was different since both of us had just used what was lying around at home, but my chair had a large colorful daisy on the seat and stripes of color on the back and legs. Whoa. That’s when I knew we were meant to be together.

During the thirteen years since that day we have seen each other go through a lot:

• Having babies, toddlers, elementary-schoolers, and middle-schoolers.
• Moving across this country and into another country.
• Falling in and out of love with sewing, scrapbooking, and Pinterest.
• Growing and changing as wives, moms, friends, and servants of the Lord.

And even though we live 1,552 miles apart now, we rarely go a week without chatting with each other on the phone (can 1-2 hours be considered a chat?). We celebrate with each other over big and small victories like our kids getting baptized or finding cilantro at Aldi’s this week! We can vent to each other our frustrations unhindered since we know our words will not go any further than that phone call.

Like Paul says in Romans 12:15, ^“Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” This time together lifts our spirits like nothing else can.  Holly put it best when she said she feels physically lighter after our weekly talk.

After we hang up from our “chat” we are ready to face another week until we can be together again while miles apart.

What about you? Do you have a long-distance friend? Give her a call or message. Remind her how good it is to be together even while apart.