Sometimes you just know...

Let me take you back to our life in Michigan as a newly married couple. Joel is in school, getting his Masters in Music Performance & we've just purchased our first house. It's nothing fancy but we're working on making it ours & loving every minute of it. Since Joel's so busy with school and doing several gigs in the area, I have taken on the task of teaching 3rd grade in an inner city school for a significant pay raise so he can quit his part-time job & focus on playing his horn. This job is both the most challenging & the most rewarding job I've had to this point in my life & I love it but I'm quite tired and stressed at the end of each week. Friday night during one of these exact weeks Joel has a gig with the orchestra from school & I am calling it an early night....but around 11pm my phone rings. "Hello?" An unfamiliar voice on the other end of the phone says, "Jenny, this is T and I'm calling because Joel is going to need a ride home." And I know that they've been drinking (tho I'm not sure WHERE since they've been on a bus with the school orchestra and later find out it was ON THE BUS), and I'm not mad that someone has called to come get him but that I am thinking at this point that Joel is TOO drunk to even dial his phone & now I'm very very angry. After my quick pick up, including screeching tires as we drove away, T is pretty sure we are not going to be friends. Fast forward 2 years & now we all live in the DC area and I have just given birth to our first baby, Jackie Sue. T is one of 3 guests we had in the hospital, arriving with flowers & lots of love from Jackie's "uncle". Two more years later, here's Josie Mae and Uncle T in the hospital room. Now here's the part that amazes me...first of all, he's single with no girlfriend making him come see us. But when Josie is 18 months old and I'm in the hospital having a bilateral mastectomy for breast cancer, T is one of the onle who comes to visit--with pillows in hand since there are none to be found at the hospital (no really, they had NO pillows for me). Another year later I have our 3rd baby and while Joel is at home with the girls, T shows up with lunch & flowers...just me and Uncle T in the hospital room, him holding the baby Jamison with so much love. But it doesn't end there--exactly 1 yr later the cancer is back and when I have my next big surgery & have to spend 4 days in the hospital, T calls--already on his way--wanting to know what I want for lunch. I'm craving cold food so he brings me a salad & fresh fruit which took him well out of his way to find. I walk the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer 3day in DC in 2008 & 2009 and T is there--08 at closing ceremonies and 09 riding his bike to find me while I walk thru downtown. Now T has found the love of his life. And if he'd asked me to hand pick someone for him to love and spend the rest of his life with, I couldn't have done better. K is the most perfect match for this most perfect friend who we call part of our family. We were blessed to attend their wedding this summer--Joel was able to stand up for T and be part of the wedding. I cried from the moment we arrived that weekend. There are very few genuine people in this world. T is one of those people and it started way back when he called me to pick up his friend even against Joel's wishes. I couldn't be happier for T & K. No one could doubt the love they feel for each other, but none of his friends will doubt his loyalty to us either. Sometimes you just know....