amazing grace

This past weekend one of my best friends came and stayed with me for a couple days. It was all too short for us because she lives three hours away and we see each other once or twice a year, though we talk on the phone and email back and forth. We went for walks around the neighborhood, stayed up till 2 a.m. talking - and then woke up at 7 a.m. to talk some more - watched a movie, painted our nails, took a ton of pictures, made the coolest pillowcases ever, and went to Free Pizza Friday at my church. We had so much fun. And just today I thought of something cool.

Grace has been my friend for a long time. She's probably the friend I've known the longest. We can't pinpoint a grade or age when we met, but I think it's around 2nd grade or age 7 or 8. If that's true, then we've known each other for about ten years. We have so many shared memories and inside jokes that we covered one side of a pillowcase with just a few of them. It's at the point where she doesn't even have to finish her sentences cause I know just what she's going to say. Several times this weekend I was just opening my mouth to say something when Grace said the exact thing I was going to say. Not only has Grace been a constant, faithful friend, she has also been my friend when times were difficult for me. There was a time when she was quite literally my one and only friend. I remember being younger and feeling friendless, and begging God for just one good friend. And God, in his infinite mercy and wonderful grace, gave me Grace. And that's the cool thing I thought today. God gave me a friend named Grace, so that every time I think of her, I remember how abundantly gracious he was to me to allow me to meet and be friends with Grace! She is pretty much amazing.

On another note, lately I've been thinking about other stuff that would be fun to do besides what I know I want to do with my life - edit and write. I'm really interested in music...playing it, singing it, listening to it, even writing it...either lyrics or melodies. I think being a songwriter would be one of the coolest jobs in the world. That is, if you have a talent for it. I don't think I do, but it's so much fun to try. In the past few weeks I've been trying to write quite a few songs. For me, song titles come to me pretty quickly, and then I can come up with a song to fit the title. Fashion design or even interior design would be a lot of fun to do. Picking colors, inventing new styles, putting a twist on the regular style...clothes are so much fun to work with! Photography is also fun. I'm discovering new modes on my digital camera that are fun to play around with. Black and white, sepia, etc. are fun to take pictures with. The macro mode is fun to take pictures of tiny details. On Friday it was flowers. I love the way you have a bright yellow dandelion in beautiful detail with the green grass in the background blurred into a water color painting look. It's so much fun to branch out into different things even though I doubt I'll do anything with them later on.