A few blogs have been written about her, she is my favorite muse. I could never run out of stories to tell, ways to brag and things to say about her beautiful personality. Kathy and I go way back. Way back to before she decided she was a travel bug. Way back before she left with her family to Lacombe, AB to live, 2 MONTHS before we were supposed to start high school together. Go to school together for the first time actually. We cry-laughed. Down in the old boat, tied to the pier is where she told me, somehow we made our way over the entire yard at the cabin, bawling. We cry-laughed, for what seemed like hours. Tears of pain, and then laughing at each others scrunched up bawling faces. I can still feel the grass between my toes, rolling around on the ground in pain from laughing with real tears of sorrow running down my sunny warm cheeks. It was such a confusing time. Why was God doing this to us, especially now. I visited Kathy often, birthdays, weekend get-togethers, day trips with mom. It was there that I finally got the courage to sleep that far away from home without my mom (yes I was 15). Kathy was way more important to me than missing home was. She meant the world. She means the world.
She travelled all over the world after graduation. Her boyfriend at the time moved to Petawawa, ON and she followed. Then they had a rocky breakup, not long after mine. Then it was New Orleans, hitchhiking BC, Thailand, Guatelmala, Europe, New Zealand. I can't even remember all of the places she went, when, why, with whom. I don't know the timeline, when she moved back to AB or what made her decide too. All I know is I was ecstatic. No words can explain the feeling when she told me she was coming home!
She was moving to...Three Hills?! Okay. I guess that's better than across the world. She started attending Prairie Bible College and immersed herself in that community, like she does everywhere she goes. She is such a light, that shines so brightly and so definitively for Christ that people can see their own paths, not just hers, when she is around them. She started baking bread and selling it at the farmers market. Took a job at IGA after she graduated, mostly just so she could get to know the community. Meet the people, be a beacon. (Heh, funny how it all comes around hey girl?) At some point in this journey, she meant the man that God had waiting in the wings for her. Devon Opden Dries. At this point Shawn and I had been dating for 4 years. Ready to get engaged anytime. So we did. And then they did, only 3 months later. Then we got married, and then they did, only 2 months later. Ya. We did it all together. Every step.
Anyway, Devon is a pilot. He just finished his instructors course at Prairie in Three Hills and needed a good job. For some odd reason...(travel bug?) they found the PERFECT job in LINCOLN, NEW BRUNSWICK. Was I surprised you ask? No. Not in the slightest. It was sad to see her go, but we love them both so much, and we know that they are happy, and best of all, following God's lead in their lives. My best friend of 14 years has moved away from me again, only a few days travel now I guess. A good excuse to go to the Maritimes, see that side of Canada. But man, do I ever miss her. More than I ever though I would.
In His grace,
Kaela
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