My Friend Windy

I want to say something about my friend Windy. Not because she's died or anything. I hope it doesn't sound like an obituary! LOL!

We met 5 years ago at a Bonfire Night celebration, shortly after we'd both moved to this area. We found we had much in common. We both home-educated our children, though mine were older than hers. We were both Christians. We both loved Sonlight and a literature-rich, somewhat Charlotte Mason-y approach to education. We both struggled with churches we had difficulties with. We are both somewhat estranged from our families of origin. I guess we just clicked.

It was hard, at times, to keep the friendship going because she lived on the local American air-base and, security being as it needs to be, I couldn't just pop round. Meetings had to be planned in advance and I'm not always terribly good at being planned! {g} But, I did appreciate her friendship so much, even though we couldn't get together as often as we'd have liked.
Jack, entertaining the troops at Windy's house.

She's a woman of faith, consistently kind and warm and incredibly encouraging and positive. She's blessed me in ways she can't know. On the worst day of my life, on finding out about Grace's autism diagnosis, Windy was the person I rang. She listened, reassured me and prayed for us on the phone.

I'm not terribly good at maintaining female friendships. I'm not sure why, perhaps I'm too easily hurt by women friends. Or perhaps I just don't expect them to last, as a result of growing up on the move in an RAF childhood? One of the long-term effects of being a Military Kid? Or just a quirk of my personality. I'm sure we weren't as close as other women friends can be, but I think of her as my sister in Christ and I will miss her terribly.

No, she really hasn't died. {g} She left England though, which is almost as bad! LOL! She's now en route, in a winding way, via Texas and Florida, to Misawa in Japan.
Rodney kidnly swapping his golden brown marshmallows for Grace's um, overdone ones.

One big thing I love Windy for, is that she NEVER complained about being here, though she must have found the cultural differences very frustrating at times. She always appreciated the best things about my country. She even claimed to enjoy the rain. {g} Even when her husband was deployed and she had two sweet babies here in a foreign country, she remained positive and optimistic. What a blessing she will be to the folk in Misawa.

She and DeEtta have been corresponding. DeEtta is a friend I've had for 10 years, but have never met. Now Windy and DeEtta get to meet! I'm praying for both of you as you adjust to a new country.

I'm also hoping that DeEtta will help Windy with her blog so I can keep in touch with her, just like I can with DeEtta!

Via Con Dios, my friend.