794 miles.
That's... 4,192,320 feet (Yes, I used a calculator. Yes, I messed up more than once).
That's pretty far, considering my favorite place to be is 1 ft away from you, in the same room. Laughing in unison, eating anything from health shakes to chocolate truffles and sipping chai tea. Reminiscing, talking smack, and always, always eating.
We talk of new favorite songs, hilarious jokes, heart wrenching struggles, and Jesus. And at every moment, even with this vast distance between us, I still have you close. Despite the millions of things keeping us apart, you're forever a prayer away (and thankfully, a text away, too).
Celeste Elizabeth Burnham, you are my best friend.
I could not have woven together a more beautiful story for us if I tried. God's perfect handwriting is scrawled all over the pages of our friendship. And you are not just one chapter, like many fleeting things in my life. You, like all the most important people I've been blessed with, have seen me through my absolute worst. The pages of the book I want to ink over or rip out.
When I say "worst", I don't just mean the petty fights and the bad hair days. I don't just mean the days I feel fat or the days I forget to tell you I love you. I mean the days where I am simply unlovable. Where I speak like a hypocrite and I deliberately don't practice what I preach.
You love me in a way the mirrors that of our Father, so lavishly and undeservingly. And although you will be the first to admit you're not perfect, that's fine with me-- I don't love you because you're perfect. I love you because we trust mutually, share honestly, and connect authentically.
I saw you last 163 days ago. When I say goodbye to you, I feel like a toddler being told she can't play with her favorite toy, and to sit down and not cry about it either. But I know that even with these huge gaps in being near you, I never feel like you are away. You are so much of my heart.
I saw you last 163 days ago. When I say goodbye to you, I feel like a toddler being told she can't play with her favorite toy, and to sit down and not cry about it either. But I know that even with these huge gaps in being near you, I never feel like you are away. You are so much of my heart.
You are the best of my life, Celeste. I truly mean that. When I look back to the seasons of my most inward growth and outward expression, you are there. You're there loving me and encouraging me, and I don't know how you have the patience! You've taught me so much about what it means to listen, what it means to advise. You put up with my loud, obnoxious hellos and my long, tearful goodbyes. You deal with my inconsistencies and my selfishness, only to turn around with more love and affirmation. You make me better, and I pray I reflect much of the same for you. You are deserving, you are worth it. You are a gift. Don't forget it.
Without you, I'd still be looking down at my motionless feet, wondering why I wasn't moving. You help me run toward Him. Thank you for running with me. This weird life is better with you.
Olive the love, Meg
Without you, I'd still be looking down at my motionless feet, wondering why I wasn't moving. You help me run toward Him. Thank you for running with me. This weird life is better with you.
Olive the love, Meg
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