Colorado was behind us now. We had left our sanctuary, our beginnings as a married couple. He was just 19 and I was 22. We had married on a mountaintop and had our baby in a town where no one knew our past. Our little town of LaVeta only had 700 people in residence. LaVeta was the perfect stage for falling in love. We woke up every morning, facing the Spanish Peaks, the only mountain range in Colorado that ran east to west. It daily pointed it’s majestic finger to home. We would drive up a windy road, weaving in and out of the deep veins the mountain exposed, and some mornings a ram would bend it’s head and look down at us from the butte. Wild columbines gently swayed in the breeze that swept the valley as summer came into full bloom. We were alone to discover each other, to explore who we would become as a family. It was safe, nurturing and peaceful.
One day, while Devon was at work, the quietness began to fold in on me. I knew it was time to go home. He didn’t take much convincing. We packed up our Hyundai Scoop and hitched a small trailer to the back. We tucked our 1 month old in his car seat and headed back home, to Baltimore.
I had grown up babysitting a family with 8 kids. I was kind of like their big sister. They invited Devon and I to join them at church a few weeks after we moved back. Hand in hand, we walked into the elementary school building where the church was held. We were greeted by people wearing neon green t-shirts. They were friendly and welcoming and they pointed us to the nursery. We wandered down the hall and checked our 6 month old in. There was an adorable, bleach blond, round faced, brown eyed boy, about the same age sitting on a blanket looking quite content. We felt comfortable leaving our son on the blanket with his new friend.
After service a few people introduced themselves to us, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw a young couple, about our age, holding hands too. They confidently came up to us and introduced themselves. “Hi! I’m Todd and this is my wife, Chris Ann. We’re so glad you guys are here.” They went on to ask us about ourselves. Somehow in that few minute conversation, we spilled out life details, like the fact we were parents of a 6 month old boy and big life dreams, of wanting to own a coffee shop one day. The synergy was almost immediate as they shared back, their little blonde haired boy was in the nursery and they too had dreams about a coffee shop. The conversation was short, but somehow, every detail is seared in my memory.
We said our polite good byes. As Devon and I got into the car to head home, I said, “They seem nice. Maybe they could be our friends.”
This is the first part of our Friendship Story. We’ve had so many people ask us about it, we thought it was about time we began to write it out and share it. We’ve been friends for 18 years…there is so much to tell! Just to give you a glimpse, we lived in the same neighborhood while raising out first 7 (Kristin 4, Chris Ann 3) children. We sold both of our homes within a month of each other with Chris Ann’s family moving back to Minnesota and Kristin’s family traveling the world. We wanted a way to see each other, so a few years ago, we started a business. (And our plan is working!) Thanks for joining us on this journey! It will be fun to share with you how our friendship has grown throughout the years.
