Pick your own

You know the saying, "You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose but you can't pick your friend's nose"? I don't know who came up with it but I love it. I thought of this today as I got a call from someone who apparently struck up a conversation with John, learned that we homeschool and that our children play instruments and decided that it was too perfect to pass up. In a two-for-one deal she has decided that we just HAVE to get together so she and I can become friends and my children can become friends with her children. I'm trying to decide if my very social husband suggested this friendship or if she's acting on her own accord. Maybe I should put my feeling aside and give this a chance. I'm sure she's a very wonderful person. After all, my best friend became my best friend only after telling her mother that in changing schools she didn't need her mother's help to meet people; she could make her own friends. But in the end she befriended the one person her mother was trying to introduce her to in the first place.

The story goes like this:

Kym (a pseudonym of her own choosing) had attended public school her whole life, which was up through 8th grade at this point. Except for a short stint in public school for kindergarten and first grade, my school career was all in Mennonite schools. Kym's parents decided that she should transfer to Christopher Dock Mennonite High School to complete her pre-college education, much to Kym's consternation. Her mom, a CDMHS alum herself, tried to make the transition easier by offering to introduce Kym to the daughter of her high school friend. Kym very firmly stated that she could pick her own friends and didn't need her mother meddling in her affairs. So, during the first week of school when Kym told her mom about the violinist named Cindy that she'd met in orchestra, her mom got to have one of those famous parental "I told you so" moments because this just happened to be Cindy Bauman, the daughter of her high school friend. Kym has never lived this down but I am most grateful that Kym chose me to be her friend. It is a friendship that has lasted beyond high school, through college (even though she was in Indiana and I was in Ohio), back to PA for employment, and beyond. I value her not just as a friend but as a prayer partner and spiritual encourager. She challenges me in my Christian walk and amazes me with her faith and trust in God.

So Kym, thanks for your friendship. Keep choosing your own friends. And let me know when you're available for lunch again.