Today is going to be an exciting day. My good friend Jodi is getting married and we're going to look at dresses at 4:15pm. There is going to be a Trunk Show with Jenny Lee designs and Jenny Lee with be there. I had no idea who Jenny Lee was until last week but I think it's exciting to meet the person who thought it all up.
People always want to know how I met Jodi. I'm not really sure why this is? but I'm always asked that if we go out with a group and there is someone there I've never met before. Maybe it's because at face value they can't see the ties that bind. They can't see that we both come from crazy families, my family is hands down more bizarre than most I dare say. Their naked eyes miss the fact that over the years we've come to bond as we've come into own and realized who we were.
What we tell them is this.
We met through a mutual friend (who we have both since broken up with). Sometimes you have to break up with friends because it isn't working anymore. All of the same reasons that we break up with a signifigant other. Communication breaks down, we grow up, we need to move on. Jodi broke up with her before I did. I didn't really understand why at the time. I heard her reason why but I couldn't see it for myself. I continued to be friends with them both. I felt like a child of divorce for a little while. I would spend time with one and feel uncomfortable bringing it up in front of the other. I didn't want anyone to feel I wasn't on their side, I wanted to be on both of their sides. Each didn't want to talk of the other. It was uncomfortable and hard for a short time.
Then something happened. My relationship with the friend became forced, awkward, I'd leave her feeling down. After a few months of this I started thinking about breaking up. Friendship has it's ups and downs but it shouldn't be like this. It shouldn't be this painful. She told me it was me, I needed to work on me. I believed her. I tried. It didn't work.
I had to get out. So I just left one day and never looked back. She knew it was over the day I walked out and said, "I'll call later" without emotion. We all know when the end is near, even if we refuse to admit it.
The part Jodi and I never tell is the healing we had together over this ended relationship. We never say that I called her late the night I left her and had tears in my voice as I told her what just happened. We never tell them about the therapy sessions we both had discussing a friendship that stressed us and put pressure on us. We just say that we don't keep in touch with her anymore. The truth is, they don't want to know the gory details anyway.
When I first met Jodi she was a much different person than the one she is today. Today she is genuine. She's meeting her goals and dreaming of the future. She's a work-a-holic still but somethings never change. Being a part of the planning process for her wedding makes me happy. I feel as if we've come full circle in a lot of ways. I found a friend in someone I probably wouldn't have stumbled over myself. All thanks to someone who has left my circle. They say that people come into your life for a reason, a season or a life time. Our "friend" was in my life for a season and I believe that Jodi is here for a reason- I'm glad I was smart enough to figure it out in this life time.
