Happy 24th Birthday!

It’s my favorite angel’s 24^th birthday today.  If you haven’t been to the site created by her family in her memory (www.meganboken.com) then go check it out.  It does a much better job than I ever could of explaining how truly awesome she was, although words will never do her justice.

Earlier this week I was on there and saw the clip posted with her interview after she got defensive player of the week.  I clicked on it to listen and immediately paused after she started talking.  It had been so long since I heard her voice.  I clicked play again and she said my name (of course I was the one to tell her that she got the award, that probably doesn't surprise my teammates!). I paused the video again and lost it. Tears were streaming down my face. Yes, I still miss her. And yes, some days are tough. But I’m at peace knowing that she is in a much better place and some day I will join her.

Since it is her birthday, I thought what better than to share some of my favorite memories.  I treasure these so much more now. There are so many I can share, but here are a few that stick out in my mind.

1.     The famous Hawaii airport “who packed the chocolates” incident

This is one of my favorites that gets told over and over again. Basically, when we were leaving Hawaii from our tournament, a lot of people’s bags were over-weight.  We were shuffling around items to get all of our bags under weight. When we all finally got to the terminal, we were hungry, it was 11pm, we had just played a game, and all the food places were closed. So we got the food out of our bags and started throwing stuff around to find the chocolates. They were nowhere to be found. Boken was the last to have them, so all eyes turned on her.  She had put the chocolates in her checked bag and preceded to go off about how she was sorry she checked the chocolates (with a few of her favorite words thrown in there.) If you knew Bokes, you knew it took a lot to upset her and set her off. Luckily, we were all able to immediately laugh about it and we all survived the trip...and enjoyed the chocolates later.

2.     M&F class

Fall of my sophomore year (her senior year) we got lucky enough to plan a class together.  The better thing was that it was a marriage and family class.  This was a perfect class for the two girls that always bonded over being the single ones.  We always had a lot to catch up on in class, drew pictures on each other’s notes, and got yelled at by the teacher to stop talking…A LOT. I’m surprised I ended up with an A in the class because we were definitely not on his good side.

3.     Sunday afternoons

Some of our best quality time was spent on Sunday afternoons.  We nicknamed these “Depressing Sundays” because most people went home. We thought it would have been the perfect days to have boyfriends and hang out with them.  Since we didn’t have boyfriends…we hung out with each other! We would share every detail of our lives (or at least I would), eat whole tubs of Sabra hummus, spend quality time with cheetah blanket, and go for rides in the Jeep.

4.     Locker room Dance

Her famous “Open Swim” dance would come out before every game.  It was the Baywatch theme song, I’m Always Here by Jimi Jamison. At her pool back home, they would play this song when the kids could go back into the pool after a break.  She had a lovely interpretive dance that went with it and became a staple of our pregame routine. The smile and look on her face when she danced to it was priceless, something I always think about when I hear the song.

I love looking back and thinking of all the times we spent together. I’m so thankful for the time I knew her and all the smiles and laughs I got to share with her. She was such a special person and always saw the positive and loved life.  Happy 24^th birthday Bokes, hope you’re having a blast in Heaven J

Friends.

Yesterday, I took a “texting hiatus.” Basically, I didn’t text anyone (except my boss). My phone even decided to help me along because I lost service all afternoon at work. I needed that. The way I stay in contact with people is through texting.  It is my lifeline. It is friend. But I had gotten to the point where I was tired and sick of it and needed a break. It was nice, refreshing, and I threw myself into reading and my work.

Turn to today. God knew I needed the rest yesterday because today was a different story.  My day was filled with conversations about Him.  Days like today blow me away.  I heard about so much hurt and so many struggles.  We all deal with that daily, some are in tougher situations than others.  But I also got to hear stories of how God was working through my friends.  The encouragement I was able to give and the encouragement I was shown was amazing. God is SO GOOD!!! He knows what friends we need in our lives and when we need certain encouragement.

Tonight, I randomly texted a friend from high school that I hadn’t talked to in over a month.  It could not have been better timing.  We caught up a little and the conversation quickly turned to what God was doing in our lives, how we were struggling, and what we were trying to work on. WOW! We were both able to encourage each other from what we were going through.

This semester I was also reminded of how God places friendships into our life when we need them. I was starting my new grad program and didn’t have many friends at home.  The one MBA class I had ended up having a girl in it.  Her name was familiar because I knew she had interned for FCA, where I was now working.  Once we figured out who each other was, God placed such an encouraging friendship into my life.  It was exactly what I needed.  She helped me in so many ways throughout the semester when it came to school, guys, life in general, and now as I am getting ready for FCA camp.  She’s been through camps the past two summers and knows what I’m going through.  Her encouragement and prayer makes me want to encourage those around me more. It’s amazing and she is amazing.  I was able to help her out a bit as she moved to St. Louis recently.  It was almost as though we flipped spots this summer.  I’m so thankful that God knew what He was doing when He placed us in class together semester. It was literally all Him!

God knows exactly what we need. Some days, we need a break and time to focus on Him.  Other days, He knows we have friends that need us more or we are the ones that need encouragement. Finally, He’s got our back.  He places friendships into our lives when we need them the most.  Never doubt that He always has our best interest in mind J