Saturday, August 14, 2010

Together at last.

Together- In or into one group, mass, or body, regarded jointly, in time with what is happening or going on. The day had finally arrived. My date with my best girl. Yep...a date with one of my closest girlfriends. I recieved a phonecall, a couple of months ago, from her, asking me to read a book with her. It was Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. The plan was that we would both read the book together and have an enlightened discussion throughout. Our own little book club. We are both book addicts, bloggers, and future authors. (Look for our books in the future at a bookstore near you!) She went to the library, and I picked mine up at the bookstore. Our reading began. A week later into reading our books, I received another phonecall. "I'm done," she says. "Done? With what?" I ask. "The book." she responds. "Our book?" I ask shockingly. "Yep." she says. I almost dropped the phone. So...here is the scenario. One week before, we bought a book together. One week later she was done. All done! Finished. Finito! I was sadly only on chapter #8, in the story of Italy. What part of together did she not get? (LOL) Tell everyone you know, if they are looking for someone to join their Olympic Speed Reader Team...I've got their girl!! A couple of weeks later...mind you...I'm still reading the book. I get another phone call. "Oh my God!" she yelps. "Oh my God, what?" I yelp back. "They're coming out with the movie to our book and Julia Roberts is playing Liz." she says excitedly. "What! O-M-G! I'm so excited!" I scream. "We have to make a date to see the movie together as soon as it comes out", she suggests. "Yes!" I agreed...still not finished with the book. Our anticipation was mounting. Time flew by and we continued to read our books. I think she had read another three or four books, and I had just made it to India in our book. (Which is still sadly, about half way through the book!) We were looking forward to our date together. I slowly became drenched in the book. My body melted, as I read each page and continued to fall in love with each character and their stories. Liz had become my friend. I was in awe of her use of description and words within the book. I thought about her when I wasn't reading it. I had somehow, become a silent stand-in inside the book, nobody seeing me there..but I was there lurking in the scenes with them. I felt each emotion, tasted every food, smiled with every laugh and cried every tear along with her. Now that's a good book!! I was still not finished with the book. Our day grew closer and our excitement grew with each passing moment. Still not finished. I read every free moment I had, like as if my life depended on it. The day had arrived...our date was here. I was still not finished with the book... We met at the theater and immediately began talking about the book. We could not wait to see the characters we had been reading about, come alive on the big screen. We bought our tickets, a box of candy, and a drink. We walked into the theater and sat down. We talked for a few minutes about our kids, always a great topic between the two of us...and then the lights dimmed slowly... and the movie began. We sat in silence watching our book come to life before our eyes. I must say it was quite surreal, watching the movie, and knowing what words would be coming out of their mouth with their next breath. We were in awe. Every now and then, we would lean over to one another and give our opinion about a character or a scene. We giggled, as we remembered certain parts of the book together, while we saw them played out on screen. The movie ended. We discussed afterwards how we thought the movie had been done. We both, had somehow, become a couple of wise book and movie critics over night. We both agreed that the book was better, although the movie was good. I must admit that Julia Roberts played the pants off her character!! She was amazing! She was just how I imagined my Liz to be. Flawless! We had built other characters up differently in our minds. Some scenes were cut out to our disappointment. I'm no Siskel and Ebert, but all in all , I thought it was a job well done. I recommend the book first! Definitely...read the book first. (Says the girl who is still not done reading the book!! LOL) We left the theater and decided to go to Sonic for a late night snack. I climbed in her van, and there we sat for three hours talking. Just talking. You'd have to know our relationship enough to know, that this was a rare occassion for the both of us. First, we are both mothers and wives and our families are priority to both of us. That being said, secondly, we don't get much "together" time with one another. That is, in the physical sense. We are phone friends. We used to see eachother quite often, before our lives each took different directions. She is a devoted wife, the manager of her house, and a stay-at-home mom, who bravely chose to homeschool all of her four growing children. I am a full time housekeeper of a horsefarm, struggling to manage my own house, a husband, two teenage girls and an eight year old son. Our personal lives definitely keep us on our toes and down on our knees..praying alot! So now, we mainly talk on the phone and blog together. That's it. So...to be able to be in her physical presence for that long was a real treat! Dana...is first and foremost one of my heroes. Her courage, her strength, her respect for her husband, her love for her kids, and her wisdom...are the things that I treasure about her the most. She is one of the only people that truly "gets me". She gets my strengths and loves me despite of my weaknnesses. She has a way with words, and can make me see a situation in a whole new perspective. She loves me for who I am, and also for who I am not. We are the same, yet we are different. But...somehow...we fit. We fit just fine with one another. So...there we sat, in her van, in the parking lot of Sonic, until 2:00 in the morning...together. We might not have exactly read our book "together". But, we had found our "together" in a parking lot...sitting in a van...eating fried cheese sticks and cheddar peppers. (Amazing cheddar peppers, I might add...as Dana put it perfectly, the cheese ran out of the cheddar peppers like "hot lava". God...I love that girl!) We talked, we laughed, we cried, and we talked some more. It was delectible!! In those very moments, we weren't anyone's wife, anyone's mom, house managers or even anyone's employee. I was me and she was her. Tammy and Dana...together, in one mass, one group...in time with what was happening in that van, in the parking lot of Sonic...at 2:00 in the morning. Together. *Thank you Elizabeth Gilbert..for bringing me and my friend together in a rare moment in time. *Thank you Dana for being my friend and offering me your wisdom and love as a priceless gift. *Thank you God...for giving me my friend Dana. Proverbs 17:17, "A friend loves at all times."

John 15:13, "Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends."

Proverbs 18:24, "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."

1 comment:

  1. Not a particularly easy feat- but you made me cry! I loved our night, I look forward to many more! I love you, and I definitely feel the same way as you do~ with the exception that my opinion is watch the movie first, then read the book. I think. Ok, well, whatever, just do both!

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