There IS a friend...

We sat in the beautiful, blazing hot sun, yesterday afternoon- a rare thing for a fall afternoon in upstate New York. And for that alone, I felt wealthy. I lifted my face to the sun and just soaked in all that warmth. When my best friend arrived at the outdoor cafe, she sat down and then we dug in. Not into the food- although it was delicious- but the "issues" we were going to attack, our individual concerns, and mostly my current dilemma I was in.

My best friend is like Dr. Phil and ...?... rolled into one. Better than that. (You know, I can't think of a single female icon who is worthy of comparing to her). She is a consummate life coach without the formal training. And you know how we became good friends? It was right after 9-11, in a dark dismal time in our nation's life. It was a scary time in our own particular lives, because we were mothers afraid for our children's future; we were women who had not yet connected with someone who would walk with us through anything. I asked her to go visit a new store with me, right around the corner from the school our kids attended, and she said yes. Neither of us like to shop- and we haven't gone shopping,together, since then. But get together and talk? Oh, we do that quite well, and frequently.

Power to go the distance, unselfish concern, witty and intuitive, discerning and almost prophetic- that's "Mu", my best friend. Ask her to describe me and I'm not sure exactly what she'll say except that she thinks I'm the next best thing to Oprah or something like that. She "sees" me as a writer and speaker, already, and has provoked and prodded me towards a refining of my call, my dream- and will not take excuses.

Know what she did a couple years ago, when she thought I was dawdling around too much with all I said I wanted to do with my life, but wasn't doing? She told me we would get together weekly, she coming to my house, and I better have a chapter of my book written because that's what she was requiring from me - every week. I make her sound more demanding than what she is. Actually I'm the pushy demanding one, but she just does it with more subtlety and wisdom. It works well- this prodding and encouraging of each other, but always over coffee or something satisfying to eat, and hopefully under the sunlight- because she doesn't like gray days.

So yesterday, there we were. Me, feeling wealthier in the soul, beefed up in confidence and ready to go slay a lion. Thats usually what happens after an hour and a half meeting together. I usually joke and say "send me the bill for this counseling session" and she'll retort something about me already being behind in the payments. And yesterday I got thinking, if God cared enough to give me a one-woman support group and life coach rolled into one- who loves me and more than that, likes me- I guess He is insistent that I not faint, draw back or at least make any excuses that "I can't go on"- because

"There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother..."

and her name is Mu.