Waco: Companeras

When I knew I'd be visiting central Texas, Laney and I made tentative plans to get together. She'd had a little girl that she never expected and that I hadn't met yet. She ended up taking time off of work just to make the 2-hour drive from Austin to spend an afternoon with me. We had stopped for some Mexican food and Laney wanted to meet all my Crystal Lake friends so she stopped in. We actually ran into each other in the restroom and the second I saw her I thought, "Oh there's Laney" as if I see her a few times a week. She looked up and initially didn't react at all either. It took a beat and then we went into the high-pitched voices and hugging. So funny. They had these hats near the back entrance so I insisted we snap a pic and send it to one of our mutual companions. She responded right away.

There's something really special about watching old friends go through different stages of life. I've known Laney as a missionary, I've known her single, I've known her married, and this was the first time I got to see her and her husband as parents. I have to say, I'm a big fan.

Her daughter is a doll but they aren't ridiculous or overly precious about her. They have good heads on their shoulders and as sweet as she is, they don't let her charm her way out of anything. She's wary of strangers and as we walked around the zoo (which we pretty much had to ourselves), my only goal was to get her to trust me enough to want to hold my hand.

Spoiler alert: she held my hand!

Blaine hung back with her while Laney and I caught up on each other's lives. There's that saying that real friends pick up where they left off, whether it's been two weeks or two years. In short order we both pulled the demons out of our closets. We cried and listened and reminisced a bit. I was so worried that taking off with Laney would offend everyone on this trip but I remember when we were watching the lions when they started roaring and feeling healed as I was able to get out a lot of stuff that had been shoved deep down inside of me for a really long time. For just a moment, I was able to roar the awful stuff and just getting it all out in the open made me feel stronger, more ready to go back and face the new nightmares that awaited me. This picture later taken at the Waco Suspension Bridge is kind of a foreshadowing of what was to come for me emotionally after this visit with Laney- haha!

Oh man, I needed that brief respite with my old companera!