10:41 a.m. - 2006-12-05
maddog
Let me tell you about a girl named Maddog.
She just sent me a friend request on my MySpace and I checked out some of her latest tunes, which is prompting this trip down memory lane.
Mae came into my life, via a freshman bible study I was leading, along with a few other gems like Megan and Sarah. She was tiny and hilarious and thought she could get away with things like "unspoken prayer requests." Ha.
Our relationship had many facets - I think I served as mentor at first, but it evolved into so many things...friendship, most importantly. We learned so much together and laughed so hard together. I laugh now when I think of those early days on the worship team where Mae was kind of afraid to sing by herself. It makes me laugh to think I was the one leading us down the musical road of praising God when Mae was and still is the one with the real talent. I just had bigger balls, I guess. Because we all know, while I can carry a tune, (and karaoke is the name of the land where I was really born), my American Idol dreams reside firmly on my couch alone. :)
The little girl with the big voice jumped into my heart with a big messy splash about 6 years ago and frankly I have never been the same. She thinks I taught her a thing or two, and maybe I did, but really, she helped me to understand a lot of things about myself better than I ever could have alone.
I watched her change from a kid to a woman, which is an odd and incredible thing to observe. It's what parents miss when they send their kids off to college. A stranger enters their home in June of their child's freshman year and nothing will ever be the same.
We live far away now, interestingly with Athens somewhere in the middle. I miss her a lot. Probably more than she thinks. There is this short list of people in the world - I feel enraged that I do not live near them. (You know who you are.) It just doesn't seem fair or right. It frustrates me that life is any more complicated than the following thought - you should get to live where your favorite people live. But things like family and jobs and weather and grad school trump that. Understandably, but not fairly.
For some reason, Mae reminds me of my favorite parts of myself. Her music is so true and honest...and really good. You should probably listen to it. And if you can really, really feel it, you've probably lived in Athens.
