This Thing of Ours

Melinda and I are wonderful friends.

We knew each other for quite a while, even shared a table at a class a few years ago, and we both served on the board of the ECQG without ever realizing how great the other one was.

She's a prolific quilter, I'm eeking out my few quilts a year. I talk a lot, she's a great listener. She's from the west coast, I'm from the east coast. We're not close in age or experience or life, and yet when a crisis hit a mutual friend of ours a few years ago, we pulled together and became, as she says it, bestest friends.

Melinda has filled a big place in my life, one that I didn't know was empty. We are both living in the Atlanta suburbs with no family to speak of nearby. We each have other friends, and yet I have no one like her. She has been a friend, a sister, a guide, a teacher, a mom, a grandmother to my girl, an inspiration, and a hoot.

Sometimes we have to search for hidden treasures. I found mine was sitting right in front of me all along.