Sunday, May 8, 2011

Bright Pink Gerber Daisy Miracle

Becca Wilhite wrote a book called Bright Blue Miracle. In it, the main character Leigh, has a cool grandma who assigns everything a color. Not just things that already have claim to color, but things that are intangible like feelings and emotions. The miracle in the story is obviously Bright Blue.
I'm going to take it a step further and assign my miracle my favorite color and flower. If I could wear it as one of those pretty trendy hair clippy things, I would. But really, I won't. I don't have enough hair to pull off that much accessory and it would not be pretty. More like distracting. But you can read about distracting hair problems on Becca's blog. But back to my miracle. I'm describing it as such because my miracle went above and beyond anything that I thought I would be blessed with. Let me explain.
I went to the LDStorymakers conference this weekend. I was very excited (I had never been, weekend away alone, discuss writing . . .), but also nervous. I had only been to one other LDS writing conference. I met a few people at the UVU Book Academy, but still didn't know many people. Going to classes, no big deal. It's like going to college classes on the first day--everyone is in the same boat, they are there for a purpose, and it's not really a situation where you have to socialize.
LUNCH, on the other hand, and DINNER . . . ugh! Aaagh!
If anything has the ability to make me feel like I'm back in high school, in the cafeteria, and having no one to sit with, it's meal time at a conference. I knew I could always sit with Becca . . . but what if I couldn't find her? Or what if, what if, what if . . .? I had a million what if's that I could worry about.
So I prayed. I prayed that I could make one friend. Just one friend that I could meet up with at meal times so I wouldn't have to be that lonely person inviting myself to eat at the only empty sit at a table full of people who already knew each other.
What happened I consider more than a blessing. I consider it my bright pink Gerber Daisy miracle (since I love those flowers and they make me smile and happy).
I was sitting at a table in the huge room, meeting the others sitting around me, realizing that I was not the only person at the conference that was in it alone, when I looked up and saw Tamara.
Tamara and I went to church together as Young Women. Our ward in Massachusetts was so spread out that we lived twenty minutes away and only saw each other at church or church activities. We always got along and were friends, but never really hung out because of the geographics. But still, I always counted her as a friend.
I went to BYU. Next year she went to BYU. We'd see each other in passing at times, but I lived off campus, she lived on campus, I was overwhelmed, had dysfunctional roommates, classes, blah, blah, blah. Life happened. Still friends, but still not hanging out much.
Tamara got married and I sort of lost track of where she went from there.
I have not seen Tamara in almost twenty years, and there she was, standing three feet away from me at a conference with hundreds of people attending.
I didn't know she would be there. She didn't know I would be there. But there she was. My friend from growing up. I didn't have to worry about making a friend, I already had a friend.
Again, that was an answer, a blessing, a miracle WAY above and beyond what I was expecting.
And the beauty of it? More so than now I had someone to eat with :) . . . I could reconnect with my friend after so many years. And it seemed like it hadn't been anytime at all that had passed. Things were as comfortable and fun as the last time I saw her, so long ago.
And, by the way, I met A LOT of really nice people there. Everyone was friendly and were happy to have you sit next to them, and were happy to talk about their writing and the classes they had been to. I really had nothing to worry about.
I guess lunch time in high school was just one of those traumatizing experiences that I never got over . . .

4 comments:

  1. Love your analogy, Sally. (I've never been able to pull of those big daisies in my hair, either.) It was such a treat to see you & get caught up. Who knew we'd find each other after all these years & we'd be writing books, too?! (Well, I guess Someone knew.) Yeah, and high school does have a way of haunting you, doesn't it?

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  2. It was great to meet you! I enjoyed reading your blog. Good luck with your book!

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  3. That is so awesome!! And it's great to meet you!

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  4. How nice for both you and Tamara. Life is truely strange but it is great when prayers are answered in a happy gerber daisy way.

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