carolina

One of my very dear friends, Katelyn, got engaged this past week. On Wednesday afternoon, I flew down to Winston-Salem, NC to surprise her. I lived with her family while I did an internship in NC and, well, they became a second family to me before too long. It’s funny; they are all drastically different from me in many ways, and yet they are also very familiar. Katelyn and I could not be more opposite and yet our souls connect. We have the same temperament, are both very sensitive people, and show our ugliest side to the people we love the most. In these ways, we are identical twins. Plus–we’re both blondes, and blondes just understand each other.

It could not have been a more timely visit. Getting caught up in someone else’s life, looking through wedding magazines, drinking sweet tea, going to the Farmer’s Market and listening to country music was just what my soul needed.

Carolina reminds me of so much. The smells, sights, and sounds bring me to time when I was possibly the most insecure and paradoxically confident I have ever been. It was the place I realized that having a 50something-year-old best friend is really cool. I am constantly humbled by the people God places in my journey and friends that continue to mold me into the woman I am becoming. I hope I’m always in this process, that I never stop making new friends, and that I continually let life surprise me.

Thank you Carolina, for teaching me to breathe deeply, live slowly, and love genuinely. You were exactly what I didn’t know I needed.