Tiffanie Paige.

There are only two things in the whole world that I miss on a daily basis: living in Colorado and my best friend, Tiffanie. 

 

 Tiffanie and I are a funny pair. Despite the fact that we grew up in the same town, played basketball together, and had a ton of mutual friends, we never really spent any time together until two summers ago. Even then, she was just home for a visit from living out in Idaho and I was on my way to K-Klassic in Missouri. We had one three-hour coffee date at Pathway, and I didn’t see her again until she flew to Colorado Springs to visit me for Thanksgiving the following fall.

Outside of the one coffee date at Pathway, her visit to Colorado was the first time we had ever spent time together. One of the first days she was there, we spent a few hours at one of my favorite coffee shops – Pike’s Perk. We went to the original downtown location where you can watch the sun set behind Pike’s Peak, and we sat in there for at least two hours sipping coffee (me) and cider (her). After a few hours of intensely deep and meaningful conversation, we hit the road and went to Target, where I distinctly remember getting weak in the knees from laughing so hard.  I don’t remember all of what we were laughing about (except for some child-size footie pajamas that we unsuccessfully tried to squeeze into), but at some point, I remember thinking that she had somehow snuck her way into my life and was quickly becoming my best friend. The rest is history.

Community is not something that has been consistent in my life.  I’ve moved away from more friends than I can remember, and I’ve had a ton of people move away from me as well. People come into my life and they go out, and I know that I am a better person for having just had the chance to spend some time with them.  But there is something significant in finding a friend who stays in my life through all of these moves and transitions, and there is something even more significant in knowing that she hasn’t been a part of any one phase of my life.  Tiffanie has become somewhat of a constant for me, and that is not something I’ve ever really known before. She has walked with me in brokenness and has celebrated with me in my victory.  She’s been a consistent phone call or text message or Facebook wall-post at all the right times, and I don’t know that I’ve ever felt safer bearing my heart with any other friend.

I don’t know how we initiated our coffee date at Pathway, and I’m still not sure why we felt good enough about our blooming friendship to commit to a full week together in Colorado, but I’m so glad we did. A God-thing, perhaps? Definitely.