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UPS and DOWNS and LOVE FOR MY FRIEND

ok, so yes I know that this life is full of ups and downs, excitements and griefs, winning and losing and the list goes on and on. There will always be good and evil in this world. I guess I want y'all to know without a shadow of a doubt that my hope is in HIM! The one who died on a cross for my sins and rose again. I know one day my life will be complete in Him when He returns. I know that will be true Happiness. Until then, I'm here doing whatever(and I truly mean that) He wants me to do. Plus, since this is my blog, I've always said I would share what I wanted without fear of judgement...it wouldn't work any other way. So I need to have a few down moments.
I know He brings people into our lives for seasons. Some for a short time to teach you a lesson or vice versa. Some He allows to be around for a very long time...those are the ones you build deep relationships with, you trust and love. There's always new people coming in and out of our lives. We just need to take a moment to realize the beauty in it all. I wasn't even going to talk about my Dad in this post, but an example of this new friendship would be Officer Sabrina Smith. She's been working at the PD for a while and yet I never knew her until the day had the stroke. She was in the hallway with everyone else early that morning. She didn't have a look of despair on her face, but one of compassion. She made me laugh talking about Valdosta High School lunchroom food at a time when I don't know how laughing was possible. (She was the school resource officer at VHS at the time.) Over the next days and weeks, she cared for me. We are still friends, but we maybe talk twice a month now. We really don't have to talk much. It's just one of those friendships where you know you can pick up the phone day or night and she'll be there. I really have been blessed with quite a lot of friendships like that. Thank you Lord for blessing me.

The main person who is the reason for the post is my best friend, Emily Farmer. She's been in my life for a very long time. We met when we were around 10 or 12. We were on the YMCA swim team together. After swimming, I didn't see her much until God brought us back together to work together in 04. We worked at a place I don't care to mention, but it's where God cultivated our friendship again. We would spend the next almost two years getting to know the good, bad and ugly about each other. She was married in that time and we celebrated!!! Thankfully other than our not so great working conditions, we didn't have to go through any major hardships. God took our friendship, gave it some fertilizer, water, and a little sun to produce two best friends. Don't get me wrong, to this day, have things we disagree on, but we respect one another as well. I will never forget the day she stood up for me at our old job. She was so upset at the thought of someone speaking such ill will of me. She was wearing a white linen shirt and white linen capris and her skin was the color of her red hair bc she was so upset. It was that day, we forged our plan to create Serenity Massage Therapy. It was that day that God's perfect plan unfolded and we are able now to see the amazingness of it all. Fast forward through a whole lot of ups and downs including me buying a house, me losing my dad, some waiting happening in her life, getting a third business partner, ect to a day we both knew would come...She's moving to Jacksonville! Her husband, Heath, will be starting Nurse Anesthetist school in May. They will also be starting a new chapter in their lives in May with the birth of their daughter. I knew when we became business partners that she would one day have to leave. I think I secretly thought I'd be married by now and my life would be different as well. (Actually, to you who are reading this, I doubt that last part was a secret to you since I've always wanted to be a wife and a mother.) So I kept enjoying the time God was giving us and not thinking about the future. They even moved into my neighboorhood not long after I bought my house so we really did spend a lot of time together. We joked that I was really married to Emily as well bc of the business and how good of friends we are. We made all kinds of traditions with each other and created what seems like a lifetime of memories in 6 years time. It's amazing how your heart can feel so loved/happy and incredibly sad at the same time. I came to the office tonight to post pics of my weekend and have a little breakdown before I came to work tom. They moved most of her stuff out of the office this weekend except the bare necessities of what she would need to work for the next few weeks. So yes, I had reason to have a breakdown. It was a slight visual representation of the hole that will be left in my heart when they leave. Ok, so that sounded a lot more dramatic than I meant it to be. I realize we are still going to be friends and that she hasn't left yet, but my life is about to drastically change and I can't do anything about it. I know everything will be fine and we will continue to be best friends. It's just an end to a really great time in our lives as business partners and friends that got to see each other basically everyday! So there's the down part of the post. I'm sad about losing Emily! I am incredibly blessed to have had her as a business partner for almost 5 years and worked together for a little over 6 years. No offense to my new business partner, Amanda, because she is great too. I predict these next few weeks of transition will be hard on us all. I just pray that God will love on us and remind us of all the wonderful times we shared together! We can always be proud of the business we created in Serenity Massage Therapy and the integrity and friendship we instilled in it. Emily, I love you and thank you for everything!

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