my dearest of friends

Lately I've been attempting to articulate the blessings of kindred spirits in life. I will let you know when those words come forth into a guest post on another blog, but until then, I'll celebrate my friend Black Betty. My friend BB has been a close friend since the 7th grade. She's the longest running friendship of my life, and will be until I die. Black Betty wrote a beautiful blog entry celebrating our friendship, see below. She's family. She and her family came to my home in VA over Thanksgiving for a day & night. What joy. She used her amazing skills to take photos of our family and some of me (as seen above). She's been a light in the dark over the last 20 years. I love you, huh. Thank you for celebrating our friendship, BB. My love goes to you as well.

See her work and the work of her business partner & creative spirit at frick frack foto!

From Black Betty's Blog:

Reverendartistmother and I have been friends for over twenty years now. She was the first friend I had when we moved to the Jackson area.

Since we were in 7th grade, I could see the artistic talent in her. She always had the cool handwriting, the cute graphics, the best ideas about decorating…and an easy way of showing herself artistically, either through tangible works or audible expression. She was soothing and easy going. It was like being hypnotized when she talked to you, but you should never think she was a pushover. Those eyes told another story; they had fire behind them. She could lure you in or push you out…all without a notice of ungraceful demeanor. She could tell you off and keep smiling, and I LOVED it. She was my quiet soul that ALWAYS stood in my corner.

Over the last fifteen years, we have lived our relationship long distance. Between school, jobs, families, kids, we have been separated longer than we have been together, but that hasn’t kept us from remaining friends. I have watched her develop her talents in ways I never dreamed of. She is a truly amazing woman, friend, artist, wife, daughter, mother…

I now have the honor of hanging HER artwork on the walls of my new house. It brings tears to my eyes when I think back to 8th grade and us swapping notes…looking at each other’s handwriting and trying to mimic it so the teacher wouldn’t know who was who. It brings joy to my heart to know that she is living her dream. She is actually doing what we all wish we could do. These pieces of art allow me to look into her soul and be close to her every day. She is always with me. Her spirit lives in my home and with my children…watching over them as she watched over me so many years ago.

I love you, girl and to depths that you will never know. I don't think there are enough words available to express how proud I am of you. May God continue to use your hands, mind, and body as an outlet from His soul…Amen.