Shout Out to I-Falls!

I got an email today from a friend in International Falls, Minnesota. I can thank her for my apparent lingering accent. My BFF and I were talking last week about the accent I came home with, after living on the Minnesota/Canadian border for 3 1/2 months. Just two days ago, we were talking on the phone and without realizing it, I said ". . . .about . . . ." pronounced like "uh-boot." Only when Shelly says it, it's cute! I got to International Falls in March 2004. The temperature was in the single digits. Rainey Lake was frozen over and cars drove on it! It IS called "Icebox of the Nation." By the time I left in July, the lake was beautiful and Shelly and her tour guide husband, Brad, took Sean and me for a boat ride across it. (Don't worry, Lori, I didn't dive in.) Because of all the moisture in that area, everything is very green. It's absolutely beautiful there - winter and summer alike. I got a card/note from Shelly a few weeks ago and I was so excited! I felt positively hyper because I hadn't heard from her for a long time. She's had some health crises and I'm very thankful to report that she's doing well now. Shelly and I have both been married for a long time and our children are close in age, so we had lots in common to talk about during those long hours at work together. I'm lucky that I met Shelly - she made a very positive impression in my life.

When Ron and I saw Wicked! onstage in May, I fell in love with one of the songs. Well, all of them really, but one that really stands out, reminds me of the friends, like Shelly, who come into our lives and we're somehow changed, even if they are only around for a short time.

For Good

"I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you:

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good

It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend:
Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you:
I have been changed for good"