Long time coming…

Last Monday night I found myself eating dinner with two sweet families that were meeting one another for the first time.  Two moms.  Two dads.  Two daughters…and me.  As I sat at the table and thought back to how they were even meeting in the first place, I couldn’t help but smile.  So here’s the back-story to how that meeting came about…as best I can tell it…because it’s almost just too difficult to put into words. 

Four years ago I stumbled across this blog.  I vividly remember finding it while I was traveling for work.  So, alone in my hotel room, and with nothing other to do that night, I read past posts and cried for hours.  While I had little in common with Paige, I loved it instantly.  Go ahead and read for yourself.  I’m sure you’ll love her too.  From that day on, I became a faithful blog stalker.  For years, I read every single post, but never dared to comment.

Fast forward to last August.  I was in Tuscaloosa to help my sorority out with sorority recruitment.  After practically living at the sorority house for two weeks, I got to know lots of the girls, Emily being one of them. In one conversation we had, she mentioned that she had a younger sister that was a senior in high school that was thinking about going to TCU or Ole Miss.  I told her that I knew a girl named Libby from Birmingham that was interested in the same two schools.  How fun would it be if they ended up going to the same school and becoming friends?  Since we live in the world of technology, we both pulled up facebook to show each other pictures of the respective girls.  As she clicked through the pictures of her sister, Abby, I sat speechless.  I had seen these pictures before.  I had seen them on a blog.  Not just any blog…they had been on Paige’s blog.  I immediately began explaining to Emily how I knew her sister because I was obsessed with a blog that I remembered her being on.  She laughed and said something to the tune of “oh yeah…that’s our friend Paige.  We’re good family friends.”  In my mind I thought FRIEND?  You actually know this awesome lady and her husband and daughters and they know you?!  It was almost too much for my little brain to handle.  Though I had only known Emily for a short period of time, and didn’t even know Abby at all other than her pictures, I decided right then and there that any friend of Paige’s must be fabulous, and if Abby and Libby did go to the same school, they would need to meet for sure.

Let’s skip ahead again to this past January.  I got a call from Emily to tell me that Abby had been accepted to TCU and was going to go for a visit.  I told her that Libby had also been accepted and since she had visited earlier had already made up her mind that she was going to go there.  We introduced the girls to each other through Facebook…what did we do before that came along??  Abby made her visit to TCU and fell in love with the campus and the town of Fort Worth. When I heard the news I could hardly stand it.  I was so excited that the girls would have the chance to meet and get to know each other. 

I guess that brings us up to the present.  Earlier this week, Abby’s family was passing through Birmingham, so the girls and their moms worked it out for all of us to grab dinner.  While they had been talking on the phone for a month, this would be their first in person meeting.  It was such a special treat to be able to see both families interacting…and from the looks of it, I’d say that they are going to have a great time in the fall.  I can’t wait for my first visit!

I know it was long…but I really couldn’t cut anything out.  I just love how the Lord wove all of the strands together…from Paige, to Emily, right down to the girls choosing on their own accord to go to the same school.  So, the next time you think that God’s not in the details…I hope you’re reminded of this post.  He is most certainly in the details…some of the details just take longer to show how they are part of the bigger picture.