The day Irene blew my best friend to my doorstep

The first time I met Maggy was when she showed up on my front porch to move in with us. She had recently gotten back from Ghana and her long hair was still in braids-turned-almost-dreadlocks. She had about one suitcase and one box for her bedroom, and the rest of her car was packed full of plants and kitchen supplies, including peaches she had canned herself and other things that seemed weird to me at the time. The only other thing I knew about her was that her favorite color was pink, and in light of what I was seeing as she moved in, I wasn't all too sure I was going to like her very much. Well, to make a long story short, we became the best of friends in the three short months we lived in the same state, and have been ever since.

Now she lives in Virginia Beach, and last weekend she and her husband were mandatorily evacuated from Fort Monroe as Hurricane Irene made its way straight toward them. They were conveniently evacuated straight to my house! We spent a glorious day and a half visiting all my favorite spots in Athens, eating as much good food as we could stuff ourselves with, and talking pregnancy and babies, since she is also pregnant and due in little more than a month! And, as usual, she bestowed on me all sorts of little things she had been gathering over time, including this way too adorable stuffed elephant that she made. I seriously can't stand its cuteness, and she made me a matching burp cloth to go with it.

Thankfully, Irene didn't cause much damage at all to their neighborhood, but because it didn't, her husband was called back to duty after it seemed they had barely arrived, and they were whisked away again as quickly as they had come. As short as our time together was, I couldn't be more thankful for those invaluable moments we got to spend together. Having a friend like Maggy is a rare thing. I consider myself supremely blessed for the honor of having her in my life!