correspondence tuesday [thirteen]

for the past couple of years, I've tried to set aside time on tuesdays to write letters or send packages to the important people in my life who don't live near me. i decided to bring it to the blog and write to an anonymous [important] person each tuesday. this is the thirteenth edition - enjoy!

while twelve isn’t really a big number, twelve years sure is a long time. It’s almost half my life, really, and that’s pretty strange. Three years from now it WILL be half my life that I’ve known you, and in four years I will have known you longer than I have not known you.

you and I met at a summer camp at the weird, awkward age of 15. I’m pretty sure you were singing some song about peeing in the pool, and I’m also pretty sure I thought that was hilarious. everyone has his or her own summer camp "romance" stories, but I felt like – and still feel like – ours was different. there is an invisible Hand that has tied us together throughout the years, and even when we’ve tried to sever that tie (and let’s be honest, there have been a couple of times) we couldn’t.

we met right after our freshman year in high school, and I would still say that year was the hardest year of my life – with the second hardest year being the one when i moved to new york city and was alone for the first time. in such instances, our Creator provides guideposts for us…people we meet along the way to swim beside us.and as only One who knows best can do, He provided you for me and me for you. after camp (all 4 days of it – which is so funny to me now, because I was ‘in love’ after 4 days?) we talked on the phone for hours and hours and wrote letters – LETTERS – to each other (which, in retrospect, were hard to read because YOU HAVE HORRIBLE HANDWRITING). i don’t even remember what we talked about – 15, and then 16, and even 17 year old stuff I imagine. i believe that your words and strength carried me through the turmoil that was high school.

fast forward to 2003 when you met the woman who is now your wife – the one who saved your life in both literal and metaphorical ways. i love that it was so important to you that i meet her – as if you knew what was ahead. just don’t forget that she and i make a great team in tough situations, and that's all i'm gonna say about that. and good thing she's awesome, because i get to love her too, and the "you" is now plural.

and now...now, we're wading through everything life throws at us. we haven't lived in the same city for years but we've managed to remain close. if it's important to you (plural), it's important to me, and i know it's mutual. and let's not forget that baby, the one i have yet to meet, the one who has my name as her middle name on her birth certificate. you know you're growing up when your friends start having babies, and you know they think really highly of you when they name their babies after you. it's an honor, one i don't take lightly.

i'm thankful that my 15-year-old version of "romance" turned into something much deeper and more meaningful than we could know at the time. but mostly, i'm thankful for the One who knew that sometimes you just need people to swim with who have been there since diving in.

even if they do pee in the pool.

love,
elizabeth