Texas Thankfulness #2

They say that if you have one close friend your whole life, you are blessed indeed. Well, the Lord has doubly blessed me for I have two. First there is Allyson who I miss dreadfully. And then there is…

Jenny. Jenny and I met in 1996 just months after I moved to Texas for the second time in my life with my family. We were both sixteen years old. In fact, we are only eleven days apart in age. Jenny is older.

The other day, Jenny told me when she first met me she couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. For I would hardly say two words together. (I’ve grown since then but in a group I barely know, I still won’t say two words together.) So how we ever became such good friends, I’m not sure. It just happened. We were thrown together a lot. Jenny took me to lunch for my birthday several times. And, later, we would recite our memory verses of the week to each other over the phone. After I moved away, she was the one friend I would call up and chat with every month or so. She visited me in New Hampshire for a week, where I drove her all over the place to see the sights of New England. And I would see her if I came to visit Texas. All in all, I guess we just have a lot in common. But then we are also very different.

Jenny is actually how I got my job down here. I work for her dad. And I see her every week on Tuesday when we go walking together all over her neighborhood. I also see her most weekends. We went on a road trip this past May. I’ve spent nights at her house when her family is out of town, and she keeps me company when my grandfather is gone. We go to movies, shopping and shows. And we even talk on the phone now and then.

But most of all, Jenny is a role model for me. For you see, Jenny is legally blind. She was born three months prematurely and when they gave her oxygen, they gave her too much and damaged her eyesight for life. She will never be able to drive, but when I met her she played the piano and flute, cross-stitched, and read all the time. Today she is a paralegal and very good at what she does. In truth, I have no idea how much she can and cannot see. I usually forget she has sight problems at all.

It has been great to already have a friend in place upon my arrival in Texas. Otherwise, I think I would have run home a long time ago…