Slow ride….take it easy.

No, it isn’t another must obey the speed limit challenge, I just had vague instructions to enjoy the scenery and stay out of the fast lane. Easy enough, as there isn’t much of a fast lane on my commute these days. But I decided to take the back-est back roads on my way home. Comin’ in…well, that isn’t much of an option, as I’m runnin’ like a scalded dog to get there on time.

Today, I’m praying for the one I affectionately dubbed “Number Three” years ago, because it was determined she was one of my three favorite people. I haven’t seen her in a few years, but she’s still right up there. She’s a fellow Co-op person, and we share the same snarky attitude and sick sense of humor. We used to joke that we needed a morning show…except we really weren’t joking. It’s a shame we never got to see what would happen if I let a mousetrap snap on my finger. If anybody has performed this particular dare, please enlighten me. I’m still curious.

I can’t decide what my favorite memory is of us, but I like to remember all of our wicked dreams of exacting revenge. But I suppose we’ve grown up since then, as she has a family and I have a job where they randomly perform background checks 🙂

I hadn’t really made my mind up about Ashley when she first started working. I couldn’t decide if she was after my job or if she was just a hard worker. She liked all of my departments and took to dusting and rearranging with my blessing. If she wanted to be my minion, so be it. She was welcome to the headaches. She came from Dixie, desiring a job with regular hours and not quite so dangerous. She was pretty showy, with her long blonde hair and perfect makeup and blowsy attitude. I was the closest person in age to her, so we started feeling each other out. I was trying to be cautious- she just looked like one of those super bitchy girls who would be out to cut my throat at the first opportunity.

But one day, she began talking about her life back home in Yankeeland. She told me about her parent’s divorce. She spoke of her brother, and how she’d put hair ties around his wrists as a code to remember which bus to get on. It nearly broke my heart, picturing her taking care of him. Our fate was sealed. She was a good egg, and a sweet big sister.

It wasn’t long before she had me coerced into mani-pedi dates and then she trusted me with the big secret when she found out she was expecting. (Good thing, too, because I had to run her wet paper towels a few mornings as she holed up in the bathroom).

So Ashley has asked me to pray for her brother and his week old baby. Being a mother, her mind is prone to worrying and she knows her brother needs all the help he can get. The trinity-Strength, Wisdom, and Courage. I understand that her brother has had a rough time in the past but has been clean for a year. And so she’s hoping that this baby will be the cement that he needs to solidify his best life.

Sometimes I don’t know how to start a prayer that feels authentic, so I’ll just jump right in. Ashley and I never needed a precursor to our talks, so I assume it’s not necessary with the Almighty, either. God, you know our hearts. Unfortunately you know our mouths, too, and our minds. Hopefully it’s our hearts that carry the most weight.

I want to speak some prayers for my friend Ashley, whom I believe is as strong as they come. And I mean that literally as well as figuratively, because she gave birth to her boys au naturelle. And she holds down the fort with these two rascals while her husband works out of town most of the time. But when I asked her what I could pray for in her world, she thought first of her week-old nephew, that some genetic testing would come back with good results. She wants the very best for this baby because he’s not coming into this world with a silver spoon in his mouth; he’s being brought in with a few hardships right off the bat. She also wants everything to go as smoothly as possible so her brother will continue down the straight and narrow path hand in hand with you. A baby changes everything, and so far this little guy has changed it for the better. She knows her brother can step up and be the man, the father, the DADDY he is destined to be with your help. His son needs him wholly and solidly there because there are no substitutions for a dad. They should be good for each other. Help them, Lord. Give him the strength to be the support for his little family and the courage and wisdom to make the right decisions-the ones that put you first. I pray for Ashley to become more focused on her prayers (I can use some help here, too, if you don’t mind), and to release some of the worry she carries. Let her know worrying is the opposite of faith, and you are the one firmly in charge. Be gentle, Lord, as she has thick skin but it covers a fragile soul. I pray for her boys to be mindful and obedient as they go about their days, learning to depend on each other for entertainment and growing in their knowledge of you and the world. I pray for a hedge of protection around Dustin as he travels and works long hours to provide for his family. It is my hope that their relationship grows stronger with every passing day, and they communicate and praise each other for all their victories. I thank you for placing Ashley in my life, and for keeping her there. She really is one of my very most favorites. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Update: about an hour before I began this post, Ashley spoke with her brother who reported that little Peyton’s tests had all came back good. They are still waiting on one last one, though, but prospects are looking good!

Life in the slow lane….surely make you lose your mind…that’s why I drove back roads. I opened my sunroof and my heart and put on some jazzy blue Lucinda Williams and I coasted.

I didn’t think I’d see much that I haven’t seen already. I used to drive this route regularly about a year ago. But turns out they’ve installed a new stop sign on this little back road, and a songbird sat atop it. Then there were some chickens in the road, but not at the usual chickens-in-the-road place. There were no dogs in the road today, either, which is a good thing. But there were some vultures dining on some sqooshed something. Food chain at work. When I made my next turn, I noticed a pretty freaky scarecrow. Except I don’t think it’s serving as a scarecrow, unless it’s meant to scare the holy beejesus out of trespassers. At any rate, I didn’t slow down to get a picture. It was really weird. What else did I see? Well, some beautiful farmland that I was sure would have been developed by now. A few old cabins, still inhabited and looking well kept. Spring had not yet reached this holler yet, it could still pass as fall. I noticed the road had been repaired since the flood. I nurtured memories of people who have passed but whose doorways I have darkened. A place where I had ridden on a wagon train, a pond where there wasn’t one. The stumps of what once were magnificent trees.

Yes, I enjoyed my little journey. It took awhile longer to get home, but that was okay. It’s good to see what’s around, good to have an alternate path. It’s good to have friends to remind you that the best track isn’t always the fastest one.