You never know where you'll meet a new friend or which friend will turn out to be a forever friend.
I met Maureen when I was 19. She was the head of HR at Eaton's and I was in my first year at Kwantlen, starting a new job at Eaton's part time. I was a little intimidated by her, but she seemed nice enough. When I noticed a Chuck Swindoll quote on the wall of her office, I realized that she might be a Christian. I asked her about it and as it turned out, she was (is). That knowledge created an immediate bond like no other. We were friendly when I worked at Eaton's, but she was in management and I was just a student. We would talk sometimes and I remember calling her when my youngest brother was hospitalized. She promised to pray for him, although I think she was quite surprised that I phoned her. (He recovered). Over my 7 years at Eaton's we had many opportunities to chat and get to know each other. I used to write her notes in class when I was super bored and leave them in her mail box. I remember us bonding over the death of Princess Diana and both showing up to work wearing black. She would tell me about her grandson Tyler and I would tell her about school and my family and eventually Pentti.
In 1999, Eaton's was closing and Pentti and I got married. Maureen and her husband Bob were at our wedding and Maureen gave a speech about our special friendship. She also revealed that she felt like she knew everyone because of my letters...lol. After Eaton's closed, we kept in contact, mostly through email. Our birthdays are 3 days apart, so we would often meet or at least email in the summer. We actually lost touch for a few years, with her working and my going into education and starting my teaching career. But, we reconnected again when I was home with both boys. We had lunch, we sometimes invited Pat (my former manager) and we emailed. I'm not sure when things changed, but as the years went by, we got closer instead of growing apart. In fact, Maureen has become one of my dearest friends. We've been meeting for coffee or lunch a little more frequently and there never seems to be a shortage of things to talk about. We talk about God, but also about shopping and the royals and books and pretty well whatever topic comes to mind. I always leave our coffee dates feeling grateful and refreshed and a little bit surprised that a few hours just flew by unnoticed, again. A sweet friendship really does refresh the soul (Proverbs 27:9).
