Lisa

Proverbs 18:24a

New King James Version (NKJV)

24 A man who has friends must himself be friendly,[a]

I have a friend. Her name is Lisa. She was literally my very first BFF. When my family moved into the home in which my parents still reside, I didn't have a real friend in the world. Lisa and her family lived a few houses down. Honestly, I can't even remember our first meeting. I'm sure she does though. She has the best memory of anyone I've ever met. As soon as we met, we became instant friends. We were the same age and in the same grade in school which was middle school at the time. We lived through our "80's feathered back hair" days and our "jeans are so tight we have to lay down on a bed to zip them up" days. We also had our "cowboy hat" days and our "hang out at the bowling alley" days. Who could forget our "doing sign language across the hall in school" days and the "sunburn our faces and Sun-In our hair" days.  The list goes on and on. Some of the list I would rather forget, but the bottom line is that I wouldn't trade my memories with Lisa for anything. 

Lisa was born with completely normal hearing. A complication at birth caused damage to her inner ears causing severe hearing impairment and the need to wear a hearing aide. I always looked up to my friend who NEVER let her hearing loss stop her from being who she was or doing anything she desired to do. 

Fast forward to today. I have MS and my most debilitating symptoms are vestibular in nature. Lisa is watching me deal with my own physical ailments now and we both share something amazing in common... A friendship that has stood the test of time. We have experienced so many trials in our lives but nothing has ever stopped Lisa from keeping our small tight knit group of childhood friends together. She is most certainly the glue that keeps us all together. 

I so appreciate all of the many friendships that I have made over the years but there will always be a special place in my heart for who I still affectionately call Lisa Nockowitz (although she has been Lisa Hutcherson for 25 years now). I love you my friend...