Pastor Spencer

I like to think that I have a good amount of friends.

Some of them have come and gone and come back again.
Some have remained all along.
Some have gone all together.
Some I'm super close with and can say just about anything.
Some I used to be very close with and now are forced to merely "keep in touch".
Some I'm just acquaintances with ... but I could still eat lunch with them if need be.
Some are somewhere between the hazy division between acquaintance and super uber closeness.
Some I've known for years.
Some I've known for a few months.
Some I talk to everyday.
Some I talk to once a month.

All kinds of friendships on so many different levels. That's how it should be.

Jordan and I have been friends since my senior year of high school. She joined the yearbook staff that year and we instantly clicked and had so much in common. We both loved Grey's Anatomy.  We both loved (and still love) to cook and bake anything we could get our hands on. And we both have that little bit of the judgmental factor going on ... (You know, being from Vestavia we had some snotty in us). We liked all the same people and disliked all the same people. Instant friendship.

I graduated a year before she did and it was then that we started having lunch dates at California Pizza Kitchen. We would have lunch maybe every three or four months to just catch up on each other's lives and enjoy being around each other. And for almost six years thats how we've operated. It's almost become like a routine. Somehow my brain knows around the three or four month mark that it's time for me to get my Jordan fix ... at California Pizza Kitchen and nowhere else (Although we have strayed a few times and gone to Jim N Nick's because we both love love love anything from there too.)

Last night was my three/four monthly check-up/catch-up with Jordan. However, because I'm still trying to take it easy due to this gross infection, I kindly requested that we go to Panera because I just wanted something light and she so willingly obliged (It felt a little wrong being in there with her to be honest. I missed the modern-day ambiance of CPK. Oh well. Next time).

During our visit, our conversation headed towards the topic of the 20-year-old Auburn student who died suddenly a few weeks ago. I did not know the girl but I had seen a post on Facebook from my old choir teacher talking about how great of a person she was and how he would miss seeing her face in the choir every Sunday; old choir teacher (and just so happens to be my favorite teacher of all time) goes to Dawson (a massive Baptist Church in the area), and I've known for years that Jordan went there too but I never even put two and two together. It did not ever cross my mind that Jordan might have known her or been extremely close to her.

And she was. Jordan and Franny were very close. She had tears in her eyes as she talked about Franny  and how great she was and how she literally just died out of the blue ... absolutely nothing wrong with her. It just happened in an instant. Jordan told me that since Franny's death, she has gone from being very upset to being flat out angry because Franny didn't do anything wrong, and she didn't deserve to have her life taken from her at age 20. Which is absolutely 100% true.

Jordan went onto say that recently she was expressing her anger to her older brother, Spencer (and let me just say ... their sibling relationship is one to long for. They are so close and they love each other and I think that's great). After Jordan was done expressing how she felt, Spencer responded. He said,

"Jordan. Franny is so lucky though. She only had to be on this earth for 20 years! Most people have to wait to go home for 70 or 80 years but she only had to wait 20. She's so incredibly lucky."

Well.  That's when my tears started to form. I have never heard anyone describe death that way. Sure, we've all heard "They are in a better place" and "I'm not sad for them, I'm sad for myself" ... but to hear Earth actually be described as a place we should want to leave ASAP, it was beautiful. And refreshing. And really shook me up.

It's been over 24 hours since our conversation, and I still can't stop thinking about it. My prayer last night and my prayer tonight is that I can have that same attitude, that same mindset. I think if we are all honest with ourselves, we would admit that we don't think of life and death this way. But we should.

I've only met Spencer one time. He's in the Air Force and lives in Texas now. But I am so thankful that he knew the perfect thing to say to my friend while she was hurting. And I'm thankful that Jordan passed his words onto me.

And I'm thankful for friends like Jordan. We can go for several months without seeing or talking to each other ... and then pick up where we left off, and it's perfectly fine. Sweet friend.