On this day, many moons ago, God gave life to my dear friend B. That was a good day.

This day is a day to celebrate her life. It is also a day to be thankful for the love she has poured over me, the encouragement she has showered upon me, and the chastisement she has gently given me. It is a mighty work of God that she walked into my classroom one day.

I have learned of the fragrance of Christ from her. I have learned of light and salt. I have learned of forgiveness and acceptance. I have learned of faith.

I have learned trust, friendship, and sacrifice.

I have learned love.

When I was there at Christmas, the days passed with things that needed to be done taking priority over my desire (albeit a selfish one) to fill them with games and movies and copious amounts of B time. One morning, I took Kashi for his morning walk, grumpily thinking about how I had had practically zilch time to spend with B when I was sleeping beneath her own roof. Well, I walk back inside and find the B has set the DVD ready to start a movie I had brought for her to see and had set up the game Sorry for us to play. I walked back inside to a great big gigantic "I Love You" from a woman who never ceases to amaze me at the magnitude of the gift God gave me in her.

I could spend a week with her wearing my Dallas Cowboy lounge pants and she would not bat an eyelash. I could fall asleep on her couch in the afternoon when she needed help getting ready for visitors and she would only hope that the vacuum would not disturb me. I could eat up her sumptuous peanut butter cookies, leaving her a quite empty jar, and she would be glad that I enjoyed her cooking. I could cry and question and whine a bit and she would accept the place where I am. I could slaughter her in Scrabble in my ruthless attempt to break the 700 mark in my score and she would play me again and again. I could guffaw loud enough to turn heads and garner stars and she would revel in my laughter. I could be ill and tired every day of our friendship and she would stay by my side and wish me well.

Yes, oh my yes! This day is a good day.