Shawn served a mission in Peru. He spent some of his time serving in the mission office. In Peru the mission office was in a multi story building. Each mission (I think 4 at that time) had an office on a different floor in that building. At the same time Shawn was in the office for his mission there was a guy named Matt on a different floor serving in his mission office. They were aquaintances but not much more.
After the mission Shawn moved into an apartment complex in Provo (where we met) and after the first semester back Matt moved into the same apartment complex and into our same ward.
We all became good friends and hung out together. The next year Shawn and Matt became roommates and moved across the street to another apartment complex and I stayed in the orginal complex (more on that later). That is where Matt met his future wife Kim. That following summer Shawn and I got married and Matt and Kim got married. They stayed out West and we moved all over the country. When we had Brady we chose to give him a middle name that would remind us of our friends.
Fast Forward to a few weeks ago.
We received a phone call from Matt. When he called he said "hey yesterday I was driving from the airport to my conference and I saw a sign with your towns name on it." So he called his wife and got our phone number. He happened to be 30 minutes away. The next morning he came by around 7:30am and stayed for about 3 hours.
What I love about this guy and his family is that we rarely see them but everytime we do it's just like we saw them yesterday. All the memories come flooding back of the good times we had together for those several years of mission life, unmarried and married life. We have seen them a few times and it's always the same. We had some good discussions. We talked about the possibility of or boys being roommates at BYU. When I mentioned it later to Brady he thought that would be cool. Shawn and Matt are both serving as Bishops so they had fun bouncing ideas off each other. Our kids are the same ages, so we shared war stories about raising kids.
When he left (and even now as I am typing) I couldn't help tearing up at the idea of such great friends living so far away. Someday we will be together again and for that I am ever greatful.
2 comments:
Joella, I know the feeling. I have a good friend who I grew up with that is the same. We both have lived in other international locations and have 5 children roughly the same ages. Would you believe she moved around the corner from me - in Brisbane Australia. It's funny how easy it is to be friends, whether far away or near.
You are all awesome friends too. I miss sitting at Sal's Snowballs with you all.
Hi Joella! It has been fun to read what the Shanklins have been up to! I haven't been blogging much lately (need to fix that!).
I was wondering if you would please email me and pass along your phone number? (shawnaborg@gmail.com). I have a friend whose husband is interviewing for a job in Springfield and when I told her I had a friend there, she wanted to see if it would be o.k. to contact you. Is it o.k.? :) We know this family from Virginia (where Tyler did his residency) and they are great. I thought maybe you might be able to answer some of her questions. Thanks, Joella!!
Hope you and your family have a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Post a Comment