My Friend Joanne

I'd like to write today about a special friend from my past. Yes, she's another Joanne, and I'm afraid to say that she is just as nutty. (Maybe even a bit nuttier than I am - hard to believe I know.)

Joanne and I used to parade around the Gilroy High School campus, laughing at everything and everyone we would see. We were quite a sight, Joanne being 6ft, and I being a measly 5ft 2in. Two blond bombshells (we wished) scaring up trouble and trying to survive the coma of adolescence. There was never a dull moment when we were together. We had some really good times.

Okay, like the afternoons in typing class, when Joanne and I would literally be separated because we couldn't stop laughing. "I like your hair Ms. Hines!" That poor teacher. Teenagers can be monsters. We were a couple of blond doozies "if you will".

And then let me also mention the time when Joanne came to visit Mark and I, and that guy fell in the airport. Poor guy, his legs just fell right out from underneath him, and he tried getting up without skiping a beat. He didn't have a chance with our giggles lingering by. I've never seen a suitcase make that kind of a manuever.

And don't let me forget our lunchtimes racing to McDonald's or Taco Bell in Joanne's bronze bomber. That car made so much noise - everyone knew when we were coming. The Camaro's and the Mustang's had nothing on us. And yes, the car really was bronze.

Hand in hand we were awkwardly stumbling through a society of teenagers, trying desperately to find our place in this world. My fondest memory of the time spent with Joanne was her family life. Joanne was raised in a Christian home (and I was not). There was something that always drew me to her family, making me ache for the kind of peace that filled her home. What was it? The house in the country on a hill? Maybe it was the fact that the family didn't own a T.V. I envied Joanne, and I didn't really know why.

Being in a relationship with Jesus Christ all of these years later, I can look back and recognize what it was that caught my eye. Peace, harmony, love . . . His presence in that quiet home. My oppressive environment and chaotic family life made the contrast of a Christ centered home very obvious.

Joanne and I have made contact again, and I just love catching up with her over the phone. There is something so comforting about her familiar voice - it makes me feel at home. It brings me back to those forgotten pockets of time. There is nothing about my adolescence that I would choose to go back to, believe me. But when you have a past filled with darkness, it makes the Light of the present day shine so much brighter.

Thank you Joanne, for being a candle in my life. I can't think about you without giggling. Your friendship has always brought me so much joy.

By the way I am praying for you - just like you prayed for me all those years ago.