When I walked into the store the other day and saw this beautiful red ornament, I knew I had to have it. Every "shoe-themed" thing I see reminds me of Kiley. It has been that way for a long time...even years before she died.
Knowing that I wouldn't be able to put into words the significance of the "shoe" like her friends could, I asked her friend Stephanie to be our guest writer today! She gracefully obliged and I even learned things that I didn't know. Which is always a treat.
"At the beginning of our senior year of high school, God decided to bless four girls with a friendship that has withstood time, distance, and changes in our lives. We formed a lasting friendship on a foundation of faith, laughter, and love.
During one such bonding activity during our senior year and at an appropriate location for Northwest Arkansas, Wal-Mart, we began discussing whatever a teenage girl longs for…..her prince charming. And in keeping with this quest for Mr. Right, we needed a code word for potential candidates so we could discuss them openly at youth group and school without giving away our secrets. (Also it was too easy to keep the overzealous guys guessing when trying to figure out how the female mind worked.)
Originally, the code word was salsa because it came in so many different varieties and temperatures, but during perusing the aisles of Wal-Mart we decided that this term was too ambiguous and really who could really love salsa that much? So, during this shopping trip our fashion and bargain guru, Kiley, managed to steer us to the shoe section to show us her latest finds and to usually help me become a little more fashionable.
It was in this section and later discussions that we decided that shoes would become our code word for guys because you always needed two to form a pair and be complete. Plus, what girl, teenage or not, could not help talking about cute shoes, and then there was the play on words with solemate instead of soulmate.
From that time on, the four of us managed to carry on many fun but covert discussions about our latest crush or boyfriends while in a public setting. The shoe has become a symbol for our friendship that has endured time and left each of us with an inordinate amount of shoe decorations through years of gift giving and decorating. (Thank you Hobby Lobby for fueling this addiction).
Libby is the best with keeping traditions and bought each of us a shoe Christmas ornament our senior year with each of us to receive the other shoe to make a pair on our wedding day. Mandy was the first to marry her solemate and receive her other shoe. Then Libby and I followed in Mandy’s footsteps and married the shoe that completed our pair.
We still long for our ultimate soulmate though, the Bridegroom who is perfect and has died to make us an unblemished bride in His perfect time. Kiley got to meet Him first and I can only imagine the bling that she managed to place on her wedding shoes. Knowing her she probably found them at the dollar store, but made them look priceless."
It is good to remember the simple things.
And it is good to have that word hope carry us through this week.
No comments:
Post a Comment