I have a new favorite to add to the old list. If I was asked, “What is your favorite surprise?” I would say with a wide smile, “My friend in New York and the visit that took me to see him a couple weeks ago.”
To give some background on this fairy-tale-like trip, I met this friend four years ago. We had both just graduated from high school and found ourselves as assigned seat buddies at a conference in Colorado. He hailed from Texas and I from Minnesota. For the two weeks in the Rockies, we talked, hung out, climbed a mountain and then went separate ways.
And I didn’t hear from Randall again until 1 ½ years later. I received an e-mail from him, which commenced two years of a pen pal friendship.
Sometimes the messages were weekly and sometimes monthly, but always long, detailed and encouraging. Through most of college, we kept tabs on each other’s lives and prayed for one another. Not until this last November did communication really pick up its pace as chatting and phone conversations joined the entourage of letters already passed between the two of us. During this time, he surprised me with an invitation to visit him in New York. After nearly four years of consistently living in another state or country, I was amazed that we’d actually get to see each other again. So we started counting down the days until February 21st would arrive.
During this time of anticipation, we continued the communication and praying for one another. One thing we were specifically praying for was the lasik surgery he’d been waiting for and needed to get in before March came around.
Ten days before my plane was to leave Mexico, Randall started a conversation with these five words, “Dominique, I have a dilemma.” The dilemma was ironically an answer to prayer. His eye surgery had been finally scheduled, praise Jesus. Unfortunately it was scheduled to occur on the one and only February 21st. Though we weren’t sure how everything was going to work out as he was going to be in DC for the surgery and I was flying into NY, six days before I was to leave he let me know that all was well. The weekend was still going to happen and I would simply be at the mercy of some of his friends while he was hurrying back from surgery. This slight hiccup in the plans only served to help us appreciate the beautiful weekend in New York all the more.
The weekend in New York will forever be etched in my memory as a grand time that will be hard if not impossible to top.
So speaking of favorites…these are some of mine from the weekend…
-The dinner cruise on Friday night was great: wonderful company, yummy food and wine, incredible sights of the city and Lady Liberty. It was a lot of fun meeting his friends and being a part of all the funny conversations that took place.
-Our lodging for the weekend consisted of a cabin in upstate New York that looked picture-perfect covered in white snowy fluff. And it was a blast packing it full with the 18 of us.
-On Saturday, we ladies woke up to a scrumptious breakfast prepared and served by the nine gentlemen who invited us out for the weekend. Quite the treat.
-Randall and I may have initiated and won a snowball fight on Saturday afternoon. Somehow it ended up being 2 vs. 4, but we held our ground (for the most part).
-The formal banquet occurred on Saturday evening as we all got dressed-up and went to dinner and a senior show with our dashing cadets.
-On Sunday, we had a chance to visit the legendary Woodstock and check out some of the hippy hot spots and meet Grandfather Woodstock.My favorite thing about the weekend was not found in the events, rather discovered in the people that made this weekend happen. I was in a near state of awe just appreciating all the people in Randall’s life. I once heard that “One can know who you are by the friends you choose.” If that’s the case, and in this case I believe it is, it made me appreciate this friendship with Randall that much more.
It’s funny how life surprises us and how it is forever unpredictable. Whether we are uncertain of our plans because of a last-minute scheduled lasik surgery or bewildered by the way God works through friendships, life never ceases to astonish us.
“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 20:21
No matter what happens, what surprises may come and what friendships may grow, none of it is or can be my doing. Someone else has the steering wheel and I am enjoying the ride.
I still like the color red, am all about giraffes, would eat a piece of carrot cake any day and will always appreciate my summit seat buddy. For these are indeed just a few of my favorite things.
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