September 15th. Four Years Later

A few years ago I was working as a service agent for an insurance company. I worked in a call center and answered questions and made changes for our clients. It was a decent job but as anyone who has ever worked in a call center can attest it is pretty high stress. Because of this, the management team always tried to do fun things or give us treats to improve the working environment. All in all it wasn’t a bad job.
Every year the company celebrated Customer Service Week and pretty much spoiled all of the service agents for the entire week. I received all of the usual blankets, coolers, backpacks and other things that were covered with the company name and logo. I still have the backpack and my son D uses it for his karate classes.
One year they decided to have a talent show. You could sing, do standup, play an instrument, read a poem…whatever (as long as it couldn’t be perceived as risqué by any stretch of the imagination).
I love to sing and was in choir all during my high school years. I was chosen to participate in the All-State and All-Northwest singing festivals when I was in high school in Washington State. I sing quite well.
I decided that I would perform at the talent show. My supervisor at the time suggested that I team up with another employee that was new to the department to do something funny.
Her name was Funny Girl and I didn’t really know her. She had started a few months before but because the training was so intense, had only been working in the department for a few weeks. I approached here and asked her if she wanted to go for a power walk during lunch. She agreed to walk with me so that we could come up with some ideas for the performance.
I put on my sneakers and off we went. The office park where we worked was beautiful. It had trails that meandered around quite a few acres; had fountains, gazebo’s and you could always find a plethora of wildlife among the forests of trees.
We walked down the path towards one of the main fountains, avoiding goose leftovers, and just chatted getting to know each other a bit. Funny Girl had just graduated from college the spring before with a Bachelors Degree in Communications and this was her first “grown up job”. She grew up in northwest Michigan and is very close to her sister and parents (who are still married). The most interesting thing that I found out about her is that she was a virgin and is waiting until marriage.
Mentally I was thinking to myself. We are SO different. I am 7 years older than Funny Girl. My parents are divorced and I am an unwed single mother who never went to college and my family is very fractured. I honestly didn’t think that we would become friends but she was really nice and very funny. I thought that it would be fun to perform together at the talent show.
We came up with a parody about insurance based on a song from The Sound Of Music. Funny Girl plays the guitar so we got the music and did our best to prepare for our performance. The day of the show we ended up having to modify a line that referred to illegal drugs but other than that we had no problems.
We were the final act that night and it was awesome. People were laughing because of the lyrics and we received a standing ovation. For the next few weeks the management team had us perform our song another 3 or 4 times in various board meetings and we received lots of positive feedback from our co-workers.
Even though Funny Girl and I are extremely different people, we bonded and have become the best of friends. In many ways we compliment each other because we are so different. I can give her a different perspective to consider that is vastly different from her own. Because of this we have both grown spiritually. Funny Girl is more liberal than she was and I have become a bit more conservative.
Funny Girl makes me laugh ALL THE TIME. Her dream is to have a career doing improv or stand up comedy. I have no doubt that she will achieve her goal of being a regular on Saturday Night Live.

Funny Girl ~ Today is our four year friendiversary. My life has been immeasurably blessed specifically because of our friendship. You brighten my day every time I talk to you. You humble me with your faith in Jesus and your faith in me. You inspire me with your talents and your desire to achieve your goals.
Before I met you my life was in a very dark place and whenever I think back to that time before and after I met you I think of this Gloria Estefan song:

COMING OUT OF THE DARK
Why be afraid if I'm not alone?
Though life is never easy, the rest is unknown
Up to now, for me, it's been hands against stone
Spent each and ev'ry moment
Searching for what to believe

Coming out of the dark
I finally see the light now
And it's shining on me
Coming out of the dark
I know the love that saved me
You're sharing with me

Starting again is part of the plan
And I'll be so much stronger holding your hand
Step by step, I'll make it through; I know I can
It may not make it easier
But I have felt you near all the way

Coming out of the dark
I finally see the light now
And it's shining on me
Coming out of the dark
I know the love that saved me
You're sharing with me

Forever and ever, I stand on the rock of your love
Forever and ever, I'll stand on the rock
Forever and ever, I stand on the rock of your love
Love is all it takes, no matter what we face

Your friendship means so much to me. You helped bring me back to Christ. You made a life that was stuck in a dark, cold winter come into a springtime bursting with life and happiness. You will never know how much you mean to me because it is impossible to put into words.
I am truly honored to be your sidekick.


Sidenote: I had some great photos to go along with this post but Blogger is being stupid and I can't upload them. I will try and get them added soon.