Good Times with Good Friends

Allen, Amy, and I went to the CHEC conference this week. I was sitting with Rachel, who had one of the Youth Vendor tables. She was selling lovely little tissue pouches and hair ornaments, with which I was absolutely smitten. I’ve never seen such charming designs! I shared the table with her, selling coloring books. Sitting in a plastic chair at a small table for three days straight may not seem like great fun (unless, of course, one has Rachel for one’s companion), but some good friends showed up and sat there with us, and we had a grand time.


I showed up with only a dollar to my name, a crate full of coloring books, and a box of colored pencils. The dollar I promptly squandered on a pencil sharpener, which we actually put to good use coloring some books that had water damage. Hailey and I then decided to do a sociological experiment, which consisted of asking
twelve people we knew for a dime and seeing who would loosen their pockets (Amy’s idea). At the end we
 decided that we could form one of two conclusions: Either: a) More than 66% of our acquaintances (you know who you are) are parsimonious weasels or b) Nobody trusts us. We went with the former. Rachel and Savannah got Gold Stars of Awesomeness because they both offered us twenty cents. Another generous fellow very obligingly presented us with a whole quarter. He insisted upon us keeping it, upon which we very cunningly slipped it back into his unsuspecting pocket. We couldn’t resist testing our ninja skills. I am not actually sure how well we executed our experiment, because we never got further than, “Can you give us a….” before bursting into paroxysms of laughter. That sort of thing tends to arouse unreasoning doubts as to one’s motives. Allen and his posse were supremely suspicious and demanded to know what we were using the money for. The injustice of their distrust was hurtful, very hurtful. I’m not sure what is going on in their lives that they can’t trust two sweet, angelic girls like us, but there it is….

We ate our meals outside the building, which did not welcome food. We sat under a tree that continually rained debris and insects upon our heads and spotted several very large and unattractive rats, one of which Whitney tried to slay by hurling a slice of apple at it. The plan, though brilliant, backfired due to the unforeseen circumstance of apples being edible. The rat was overjoyed with his “gift.” And so that episode made for more laughs, especially when Amy did an imitation of somebody bludgeoning a rodent to death with a piece of pie.

The highlight of our half-week was the discovery that we were on the news!!! Yes. The five o’clock news. Some gentlemen from 9 News came and interviewed the youth vendor whose table was directly behind ours, and their cameras accidentally captured the backs of Rachel’s, Hailey’s, and my heads. So now we are TV stars. We try not to let it go to our heads, but I found myself snapping my fingers at people and calling them “underling” the next day even more than I usually do. But fame hasn’t spoiled me. I’ve always been insufferable. All in all, we had a wonderful three days, full of giggles and good times. Come to think of it, I didn’t actually talk much. It was mostly laughing about nonsense; things like asking each other if we had a plethora of piñatas and saying, “Push out, chicken.”

It is this sort of thing that makes for marvelous friendships: good times. Good memories. It doesn’t always have to be about deep talks and important conversations, although a healthy friendship needs plenty of those. Sometimes, instead of being grave and having serious conversations, it’s better to just be friends together. Laughter and happiness brings us closer. The Bible speaks truly when it tells us that a merry spirit brings health to the bones. A heaping helping of silly is good for you! Gravity has its place, and a very large place it is, but fun is a blessing from God! He wants His children to be merry. I love my friends and family for having serious conversations with me, for making me a better and deeper person and pointing things out that I‘d never thought of before. But I think that what really seals the friendship is the laughter we share.