Sheila Sims Iding
There is a friend whom I have been ignoring and I feel like I should offer a formal apology. Ignoring this friend is not only sad, but it is, at some point, also shameful and embarrassing.
I have known this friend since I was a little girl…and learned at a young age that this friend was special.
This friend is so well known and popular the mere mention of the name brings a smile to most people of almost all ages. Really!...most people…most ages.
This friend brings a sense of solace and many people seek this friend out for comfort.
This friend is full of fun and adventure almost every time you visit…not many friends can say that.
This friend is familiar and diverse…so that each meeting can feel like coming “home” or can be the discovery of something new.
This friend is full of life and seems to be there merely to share this life with you. This friend’s possessions are truly gifts from God and each special gift is meant to be shared.
This friend has a rare beauty, which unlike most friends, is mostly an outward beauty. The inner beauty doesn’t matter because often times this friend’s outward beauty can be so amazing the lack of inner beauty doesn’t matter. Sounds like a shallow friend. Trust me…this friend is not shallow.
This is a friend who begs you to come visit and begs harder for you to stay so that many times the leaving is against your will.
This friend is one of those where you can pick up right where you left off and it feels as though there was never a good-bye…never a parting…never an ignoring that deserves an apology.
It has been several years since I have spent time with this friend and tomorrow I will rectify that. Tomorrow I will meet with this friend again and be surrounded by the blessings this friend brings.
Tomorrow for the first time in over three years I am heading up north. When you live in Michigan and have not gone up north for years, it seems a shame.
When you are two or three hours from God’s country and you ignore visiting, it is almost sacrilegious.
When you have summers off (except for classes and family and classes and family) and you don’t dip your toe in water of this Great Lake State, it is embarrassing.
So tomorrow we head north for a half marathon race in Charlevoix. The minute you get past Clare, you sense the sense of up north. The farther you go the more you are immersed into the welcoming arms of up north. And as I am greeted by her white pines and birch trees that decorate her paths, as I see her beaches that frame her waters, as I feel that sand that I’ve longed for almost as much as that air, I will whisper “Hello beautiful friend. I’ve missed you. It's been too long. I apologize.”