The BFF

The BFF. Yes, three letters that describe a person who knows me at the core of who I am. Her name is J.lo. Okay, her real name is Jen, well actually, it's Jennifer (wow, Jennifer sounds weird) but I call her J.Lo for short. No, her last name isn't Lopez...and it doesn't even start with a L, however, j.lo is what I started calling her at one point, and it just stuck. She is quite good looking however, just like Jennifer Lopez, so there are some commonalities there. We laugh together. We cry together. We sing random songs and jingles together and make up weird dances to go along with the songs and jingles (well, not so much the dances anymore, but oh do we still sing!). We eat peanut butter and pretzels together. We get soft serve ice cream cones from McDonalds and devour them together in the car before we reach our next destination. "Two number 8's on wheat please..." is what we say when we go to POS (Port of Subs that is). We've been to a lot of life's events together including: weddings, funerals, proms, formals, countless graduation parties, had a really bad experience at a mexican resturant (ahhh...mariachi...ahhhh) birthday parties, random youth events and trips, baby showers, a few dance clubs, late night climbs on the roof of the church (was I supposed to say that...?) and we go to Wendy's on Christmas day together and eat chicken nuggets...yum. We've endured many of life's great trials together including deaths, divorce, broken hearts, broken families, run-ins with the police, dumb boys and the unknown that always lies ahead. We can still to this day stay up to all hours of the night, just talking about all sorts of stuff, some serious and some just plain silly...and I mean really silly. Silly pants.

Now you may be thinking, "Yeah, a lot of people have a best friend..." No my friend, no. Many (I would venture to say most) do not understand what it is to have a true BFF. Some people say, "Oh yeah, I have three or four best friends..." Again I will say it, no. No, my friend. In my opinion, you can have multiple "really good friends" but really only one BFF. You see, the BFF is the one who you can look at with "the look" and they know exactly what you are thinking and you don't have to say a word. You just smile at one another and then bust up laughing later. Or when you're in church and the lady behind you, bless her heart, is singing like a cat in heat, Jen and I just look at each other and smile and don't say a word, though can pretty much, word for word, know what the other is thinking. They are the one who know that something is wrong simply by looking at you or hearing your voice on the phone and when they ask you "What's wrong?" and you say "Nothing." they say "Liar." And then you tell them.

A BFF is a one of a kind gift from God. And I don't use the word lightly here. Jen is a gift from God. My honest to goodness prayer is that everyone would experience what it means to have a BFF like I do. I can tell Jen anything and she doesn't judge me, though she will certainly put me in my place and tell me the hard things that I need to hear but don't necessarily want to. She does it all in love and I become a better person and woman of God because of it and because of her. She reminds me to not think too much about certain issues and calls me on it when I'm being a "dumb girl". We don't like "dumb girls" though we have found ourselves to imitate them at times. And now as we get older we find ourselves having more adult conversations. We've traveled on the road from being jr. high girls to becoming young adult women. Through jr. high, high school and now college-aged life, we've traveled the road together. It's a whirlwind when I stop to think about it. We now find ourselves having adult conversations talking about jobs, relationships, paying bills, moving, future decisions, etc... When 8 years ago our biggest concern was if we were going to get to ride in the church van with Adam and Sergio. Oh the simplicity of being young. And we're still young...so young, yet we feel much older than we did when we first met (PTL for Tammy McFaddin :)

This blog doesn't really even seem to justify or thoroughly explain what Jen means to me. Simply said, she is a beautiful woman of God. She is the person I trust more than anyone. She is the one who I can talk with about issues of the heart. She is the one who holds my secrets inside of her, and she is pretty much the most a-ma-zing party planner/hostess that I know. She is beautiful. Not only on the outside, but she has a beautiful spirit. I often wish she could see herself the way I do, or rather the way God does. She has so many gifts and possess a true compassion and heart for people. She is my BFF and I am so blessed. Thanks j.lo. We go together like peanut butter and jelly. I'll be the jelly, you can be the peanut butter. Skippy, reduced fat...right? Whole wheat bread...yum. 143.