The Perfect Fit

Today Joe said he'd like baseball better if I were there.  I set aside my plans and went to watch his game.  I'm glad I did.  A good friend was there.

Joe's known Tim a long, long time.  They probably vs'd each other in baseball for twenty or twenty-five years.  For several years, they've been going to Florida together.  They are the Minnesota Bandits and they have cool unis.  When he once asked what it would take to convince me to nag Joe into going to baseball in Florida every year, I said "fan attire."  He hooked me up with a sweet "girly" t-shirt in Bandit colors.  I'm proud to wear it.
From the first time I met Tim, I've been comfortable with him.  He's salt of the earth - a good, good man, a GREAT father, and an amazing husband.  Then I met his wife, Beth.  She's as good as he is.  I loved her from the moment we met.  To me it felt like there wasn't even a "getting to know you" phase. We immediately and permanently clicked.  She's one of those people who can participate in a conversation from time to time - and sometimes the between time is MONTHS - and is immediately, intimately, perfectly present.
Beth is a wife like me.  She gets frustrated sometimes because her husband is ALWAYS playing, thinking about, or facilitating baseball.  Like me, she knows it is his best love.  Also like me, she would never, ever take his best love from him.  We met because our husbands were friends, but we bonded because of the unique way we affirm our husbands. And yet we rarely discuss baseball.  Ummm.... forgive me when I say, "Thank God!"
Today Tim and I visited for a few minutes before he left for his next event.  I enjoy the moments spent in his company because I am completely and totally relaxed.  There are no games, no jockeying, no stress.  He told me a story that made me grin and enjoy the husband he is to my friend Beth. God! He loves her.  She is as lucky as I am in her choice of lifetime companion. I hope she knows that - I believe she does.
These are the kind of friends God wants for us.  People who share the same values without being cookie cutter images of ourselves.  People who long for the best for us as we long for the best for them.  People who are friends to our marriage and will never, ever propose something indecent or cross the wrong boundaries - ever - because they love us like we love them.