On the surface, Patricia Lorenz and I are nothing alike. She’s blonde. I’m a brunette. She’s funny. I’m not. She uses Comic Sans and a zillion other fonts in e-mail, usually in pink but sometimes in royal blue and lime green, her favorite colors. I’m very much a Times New Roman gal, and the only place you’ll see color is in my clothing. She takes life as it presents itself. I once answered the question, “Have you tried the Reubens here” with a treatise on identifying and carrying one’s cross.
But since we met eight years ago and declared ourselves best friends shortly thereafter, Pat and I have found a lot of ways in which we’re alike. We’re both honest, sometimes to a fault. We’re both fairly tidy people. And we’re both spiritual, each in her own way.
I’m thinking of Pat today because we’re getting ready to send our book, You’re My Best Friend Because, a 365-day devotional, off to a publisher for consideration. That’s another way in which we’re different: I write formal proposals, based on the publisher’s guideline. Pat just sends a complete manuscript to her publisher of choice with a burbling e-mail about why the publisher would be insane not to publish the book. And hey, she’s had twelve books published to my one, so who am I to criticize?
I’m also planning a November trip to the Tampa area to see her. We’ll have tea in the morning, maybe a beer in the evening, and spend a lot of time outside, watching pelicans and turtles and other Florida wildlife. We’ll go to Mass together. We’ll talk about life and lick some wounds while we talk out on her lanai. And God will be there, with every giggle and tear.
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