Today is Ginny – my lifelong bestie and partner in crime’s 🙂 – birthday.

Since it is her day, I wanted to share a reflection from my book about her and a wonderful trip we took to Montreal together.

(It is also related to the cover photo of the book as well.)

First, before I say more, let me share the reflection. It is #14 in Grace, Songs, Scripture, and Spoons:

A Friend Loveth

“A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”  

(Proverbs 17:17 KJV)

I don’t quote King James Version often, but this is one of the first Bible verses I can remember learning in Mission Friends when I was four years old – and this is how it has always stayed with me.

Nothing could be more true of my best friend since high school, Ginny, than that she has loveth-ed me at all times. 

I could tell a million stories, but, for now I’ll share this one: the photograph on the cover of this book was taken at the highest point in Old Montreal, at the top of the spire of Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours, the Sailors’ Church. Making it to the top is a testament to the kind of friend that Ginny is.

We had been planning this wonderful trip to Montreal for months. But when the time finally came, my CRPS had flared so badly that I could not walk. Unbeknownst to us at the time, I also had osteomyelitis in my left foot.

 So I traveled in my Smartchair and was absolutely no help with luggage or anything else.

To make matters even more interesting, I was not experienced driving my Smartchair at all – I had always been ambulatory before my CRPS – so I spent the week crashing into walls everywhere we went, including our hotel. 

It was quite a scene.

But my Ginny still bravely traveled to Montreal with me for the week, determined that we would have this wonderful trip.

And it truly was amazing.

Still, it was a tremendous amount of work for her – and she never complained once.

This particular picture, though…the one on the cover?

The chapel itself is beautiful from top to bottom. The view from the top is stunning, and the lower level is an incredible archaeological site. But every single part of it requires stairs.

Lots of stairs.

And there is not a mule in North America more stubborn than I am. Like many spoonies, I deeply resent not being able to do the things I want to do. And this? It’s not as if I was going to be back in Montreal –  from Alabama – the next week to try again.

So I determined that I was absolutely going to climb to the top of those stairs.

And I did.

Painstakingly slowly. In the July heat. With feet that were simply not working.

It was a whole mess (and a half).

But we made it to the top.

To her great credit, Ginny said nothing. Later she told me she knew there was no stopping me. After more than thirty years of friendship, she knows me almost as well as I know myself.

Of course, there was a mighty price to pay afterward in the form of pain and swelling of my feet – as was entirely predictable.

But there wasn’t a single “I told you so” from Ginny.

So what’s the moral of this story?

No matter what else you do in life, you need a Ginny. Desperately. 

There is nothing in this life more important than your people: your spouse, your best friend, your parents, your children, your church group, the small circle of forever friends who truly love-eth you.

When everything else feels like it’s burning down around you, they are everything.

Be thankful for them.

 And love them well.

“A true friend is a reflection of God’s love.”  

St. Benedict

I can’t say enough good things about my Ginny (or how brave she was to take me on this trip when I was not ambulatory at all at the time.) I also cannot bear to share pictures of my face from that time – I was almost unrecognizable from prednisone swelling – but it was really a smartchair trip (and Old Montreal is incredible – but not accessible for people with disabilities in many ways):

An aside, but as I was looking for a few pictures of our trip to add to this post, I saw this one of the tattoo I got in Montreal, “j’ecris,” meaning, “I write,” in French. I was praying, as a newly disabled nurse then, to get to write more – so this little book of mine is a great blessing indeed. ❤

Finally – and most importantly – Happy Birthday Ginny! I love you so much and hope you have the best day!

Be well, everybody. Take care of yourselves and each other.

Grace and Blessings.