The One About Devon

Devon is one of my new girlfriends. We have been friends for about 18 years. I feel so close to her. We met because our husbands worked together. The guys were a fairly social group so the wives saw each other pretty frequently. We were all pregnant together as well. Our daughters are 5 weeks apart and have always gone to school together. We even chose the same high school so our kids would have this other set of parental eyes on them. Her daughter picked my daughter up yesterday to go to the book store. They bought a journal to share. Each will take turns doing a page. Neat huh?

When I went through my divorce, Devon did something extrordinary. Despite the fact that our husbands worked together, she chose both of us. She remained the same friend she had always been. Meanwhile other wives scattered as though they may catch something off me.

Devon is a physician and I have called her numerous times for advice, of all kinds. Always professional and compassionate she addresses each of my concerns.

While many Christians are very vocal about the fact, Devon actually embodies that which is Christ-like more than many (if not most) of those standing on the street corner openly talking about God, Christ and prayer. She is standfast, loving, puts children, safety and health first, while donating huge amounts of time and money. She is devoted in all ways.

Also, she is tall and beautiful. And real. She answered the door once, it was obvious she had been crying. I asked "what's wrong, are you okay?" She answered "I was was just crying" and shrugged. No drama. No shame. Wow. That may be my favorite story about her.

Devon is also very talented and embraced learning new artistic things after her last baby got big enough to open the refrigerator. Her medium these days is PMC, clay embedded with silver. Once fired it becomes in silver what her hands molded in clay.  I asked her to make a piece for me last year. She used fiber (since I knit and sew) and the oval shape. I am drawn to the oval, as it represents the egg, a meaningful symbol for me. She also added the word "nest," again, very important to me.

I asked her to make a necklace for my step-daughter last fall. I don't like calling her my step-daughter. It makes it sound like I am not owning the relationship. But she does have a devoted mother and I would be disrespecting that fact if I called her my daughter. I often refer to the girls as our daughters. I guess I will never figure it out. My first mother-in-law always introduced me as her daughter. I loved it when she did that. Okay, so then, I had Devon make this for my daughter. So fresh and pretty.

This one is for my mother-in-law Phyllis, the jewelry horse. In my favorite shape. Devon pressed a Euro coin into the piece creating a ghost image of Venus, a reference to Phyllis' Italian heritage. It has a lovely weight about it also.

Last year Devon gave this to me as a birthday present. We have no hard and fast rules about gift exchange. If  Devon sees something that remeinds her of me, she will just offer it as a gift. I love that. I usually think everything needs to be Even Steven. Look at this. The image just says so much. I recognized it to be the work of Samantha Lamb whom I love.

Devon is wonderful. Just bliss to have her. Thank you, Devon.