Missing Sara

     I write straight from my heart. I am by no means as good as many of the bloggers here, but this isn’t about that. I write from a passion that I honestly cannot contain! I write because I MUST, therefore I DO! It pushes me on, and giving it up is not a choice! I usually write Christian based devotionals, but sometimes in the middle of the night when I cannot sleep, I slip into my living room, sit down in my pajamas with my laptop and a cup of coffee beside my malshi, Molly, and pour my heart out to total strangers. This is one of those nights.
     I have a friend whose name is Sara. When I met Sara about a year ago, she was just a lady. I didn’t think a great deal about our meeting. She had a child she wanted me to tutor in reading and language arts because I am a degreed teacher with a specialization in reading. I had volunteered at a certain place and she happened to walk in and somehow we began to talk about my background “out of the clear blue” as we say in Texas. I noticed she kept watching me with a keen eye and eventually she asked me if I would mind coming to her home to tutor her child. Normally, I don’t tutor. This day I couldn’t believe I was agreeing to it. I retired over ten years ago and as far as I was concerned, my days of working with children in any capacity and to any and every degree were over!
     As I began to go and tutor I absolutely fell in love with this family! What is odd is they are not of my ethnicity, which by no means am I a bigot but you have to know this to understand the rest of the story. We do not come from the same culture, socio-economic background, or are we of the same faith. When I would go to Sara’s for the tutoring, she treated me as though I was royalty. She would bring me coffee in beautiful cups that sat daintily on glass trays with a spoon on a linen napkin . I was dieting (as always!) but she would put the creamer and the artificial sweetener in crystal containers and literally serve me! I felt like I was on a cruise ship!
Her children are perfect! I know you think that is not possible and I didn’t know it was either, until I met them! She is a wonderful and wise mother and I admire her parenting skills tremendously! Her children are polite, well-mannered in every way, and have sweet personalities. You feel like you are talking to children from the 1950s (yes, they are that good)! They make me laugh and I leave them with a smile on my face and a chuckle in my heart!
     They are very successful people, yet very humble, They are not arrogant in any way whatsoever! They are very peaceful and kind!!
     What is amazing about Sara is that with all we DON’T have in common, I love her dearly and enjoy our visits immensely!! We laugh like we are two children. I call her my “fashionista”! When I first met her, my hair was salt and pepper and in a Jaime Lee Curtis cut. I was thirty pounds heavier and wore all the wrong make-up. Sara is extremely kind, but she also very blunt! As I lost weight, one day she walked in and said, “You need a new bra!” Only someone who feels total security in their friendship with you could say such a thing! I knew we were friends for life at that moment! I laughed, and if you are one of my readers, you know my laugh is loud and it comes from my stomach. It is not ladylike AT ALL! It is no little “he he” or giggle from the throat! It is all out, “I can beat any man playing Santa Claus with this laugh!” Sara loves it. Again, she is my precious friend!
     Today, because of Sara, I have rich brown hair (from a bottle), a “Sharon Osbourne” haircut, and completely natural looking (only better) make-up all due to Sara! We have shopped, gone to lunch, shared our feelings, our ups and downs, giggled and laughed until we literally rolled, gone through her lipstick drawer (she loves lipstick), talked about hairstyles, and exchanged parenting tips and have had Keurig coffees that we have oohed and ahhed over. These are all the things I love to do!
     Tragedy struck Sara’s family recently. Her father literally was and is on his deathbed. She went to see him and spent ten days. During that time, my mother began to have complications with her health as well and had been told by the doctors to not be alone, nor was she to drive. She had flatlined at home twice while she was by herself. I had to stop tutoring and I could no longer visit my friend, or her precious family.
     Tonight, I am thinking of Sara. I am missing her to the point of literal tears. I never think, “She is so different from me”! I just thank God I know her. I think of our fun times and the “family” they became to me and how much I love them.
     I don’t know if I will see Sara or the rest of the family anytime soon. Life for me has become so crazy busy and her life is crazy busy as well! I hope she will get a second to read this blog and if she does I want to say THANK YOU, SARA! I miss you, and love you and the rest of the family dearly!! Please, know the impact your love has had upon my life!!! Everyone should have the blessing of having a friend like you!