Reading from Betsy Roberts

Lauren….Our Love Story
I don’t believe people are brought into your life by chance or luck. I believe God brings them into your life for a reason. There is always a reason. The reason these people were brought into my life was I was to be blessed to know them. I would like to share with you today a love story. A story between two people who became friends and then best buddies over coffee.

Webster’s definition of buddy is ”A person you have a strong liking for and trust in. Someone you like to do things together with, share secrets with, and have things in common with.” He goes on to give synonyms of comrade, confidant, and pal.

“Our First Meeting”
One Saturday morning around 1 ½ years ago, I dashed off around 7:30 am to Dos Lago’s Starbucks to get my morning coffee. My days start this way. Not only do I love the coffee but love the baristas and the people who I meet there. So this morning I dash in, order my coffee, of course talk, talk, talk as I place my order and pay for my drink. I move to the end of the bar to pick up my coffee. There sitting on the high seat chairs at the end of the bar are a father and a little girl. Of course, I say good morning and the little girl smiles. I can’t remember what the first things we said were but I know our conversation went onto doggies. I told her that I had a Yorkie that weighed 5 pounds and she was very excited. I asked if she and her Papa came often and she told me that they usually came every weekend around the same time. We had such a fun conversation that I told her that I would plan to meet them the next weekend and I would bring Tiki to meet her. This wasn’t a short conversation; we had talked long enough that I had already drunk my latte just enjoying her company. What a little doll she was and a pleasure to talk to.

“Tiki and Lauren’s First Meeting”
The next weekend we met at Starbuck’s. Gordon and Lauren were sitting inside. I slipped Tiki inside my jacket and made my way over to the table. Of course, Tiki went crazy when he saw Lauren and Lauren went crazy for Tiki. They were instant friends. Believe it or not, Tiki didn’t bark, and I didn’t get busted and thrown out of Starbucks.

“My Weekend Ritual”
My weekend ritual became that on Saturday & Sunday I made it a mission to be at Starbucks at the assigned time so that I could meet my buddy. My husband would just smile when I went out the door and said “I going to meet Lauren for coffee.”

“Petite Vanilla Scones”
We didn’t have silly conversations. We had one conversation that revolved around petite vanilla scones. This was something that we both liked. I sat down at the table one morning and asked her why she didn’t have her scone. She told me they were “too sweet” and so I asked and we found out that they had in fact changed the recipe. I happened to have some sugar cookies that I had made at home that weren’t really sweet so a quick trip home and my buddy had a treat along with some cookies for the rest of the family.

“Girls Weekend in Palm Springs”
Another weekend Lauren explained to me that she wouldn’t see me the next weekend. She was going on a “Girls Weekend” with her Grannie, Mama, Auntie, Marissa, and I believe a cousin. She emphasized that “no boys” were coming it was just the girls and they were going to Palm Springs. They were going to stay in a big hotel and swim and have a really good time. She was so excited. So we made plans that when she got back she could tell me all about it the next time we met.

Two weeks later Lauren proceeded to tell me the story. She told me that they swam, had a nice dinner and a really good time. They settled down for the night in bed with their jammies on. Grannie had a movie on the TV for them but they couldn’t settle down. They were feeling itchy. She said they kept feeling itchy and scratchy. Finally I don’t remember if it was Hilary or Grannie but they flipped the covers back and sure enough bed buggies were there. Lauren went on to tell me about the phone call to the front desk and how they came on golf carts and took them off in the middle of the night to different rooms. She was indignant but couldn’t wait to tell me the story. This story coming from a 4 year old+ little girl. I had to absolutely laugh out loud. She was so mad, but laughing away the whole time.

"Learning of Lauren’s Illness"
I never really knew what illness Lauren had. I just knew that I loved her. One weekend Gordon shared her blog address with me and then I understood. Any weekend that I didn’t see them I would always ask the baristas if I had missed them or if they had been in. If they hadn’t been in I immediately went to the blog to check on my buddy and see what was up. If the baristas hadn’t seen Lauren and Gordon they were always asking me how they were and what was happening. See Lauren was loved by many, many people at Starbuck’s.

"Lauren Sharing Stories of her Extended Family with Me"
I would like to share something with the extended family. I feel like I know you guys. She would tell stories of her Grannie and Auntie. She told me of the famous Uncle Steve with doggies. These are the stories Lauren shared with me. She made you all come to life for me. She shared you with me and how very much she loved you. She would tell me when she was taking a trip up north to visit her Papa’s family and everyone that she was going to see. I still love the picture of you all sitting on the staircase. I just want you all to know with how much love she spoke about you.

"Our Last Coffee Date before Valentine’s Day"
The last time Lauren and I had coffee was the weekend before Valentine’s Day. Gordon warned me that she was extremely quiet and didn’t talk much. I told him it didn’t matter to me that I could talk for the both of us and I would just love to see her. We talked about the Father Daughter dance coming up at school and that she was going with her Papa. We talked about the fact that she had a new dress and headband to wear. Lauren loved headbands and she liked it that I wore them for work. She thought that was super cool. I also gave her insider trading secrets that Starbuck’s was coming out with a special Valentine’s cup with hearts on it starting that Monday. We talked about that sometimes boys are not very nice but that they grow up and they turn out pretty nice. They really don’t mean to be mean. We looked at pictures on my Iphone of Tiki and laughed. I could see she was getting tired and she wanted to go onto Michaels so I gave her a big hug and told her how much I loved her and to have a super time at the dance. I told her I was going to look at the pictures that Papa put on Facebook so I could see her dress. Gordon later shared with me that she was more talkative that she had been in awhile. Thank you God for the precious blessing.

Personal Thanks from my heart……
I wanted to say thank you to Dr. Finlay, the wonderful nurses and people who cared for Lauren along her journey. Thank you for each extra precious moment that I had with my buddy. I also wanted to say to Madysen. Webster needs to change his definition of friend. It needs to say friend: “see Madysen”. My prayer for you all is that your kindness and love is returned to you 100 fold.

For all of us who love Lauren, LaLa, Pretty Pink Princess, Warrior, Angel whatever you call her the last few weeks have been more than stressful. We watched, read, prayed, texted, called out for our friends and family to pray for our Lauren. Gordon and Hilary unselfishly shared the story with us. We became one large family united in Lauren’s journey. I found myself at all hours just as many of you did checking Facebook or the blog to check on the family to see how they were doing to let them know we were praying and thinking of them. We really didn’t know what else to do. Words can’t express the anguish you feel for them, the wish that you could take just some of the pain. Thursday night around 11:30 pm I posted a note to Gordon, Hilary and family. I just told them how thankful I was that they were home together and that Lauren was there. I thanked God because I had been praying so hard the whole day for him to make it happen and to get her home with them. I felt such a sense of peace.
When I am with Gordon, Lauren, Hilary, Marissa & Finlay the love hits me like a force field. I can physically feel how much they love each other. There is a sense of warmness, comfort and joy. Gordon and Hilary you are amazing parents, Marissa you are the best little sister. Finlay you are the cutest “Chunky Monkey” and make me smile. I know why I was to meet you, I was rewarded by God.

So my little Buddy, run, dance, play, jump in heaven. Splash Marissa while in your bubble bath from heaven, I will never think of rain the same way again. Sing Hannah Montana so loud that I can hear it down here. I am listening. I will continue to have coffee with Papa, Mama, Marissa and Finlay. I will love them and hug them for you. I will love you and never forget you. I will keep you close in my heart and thoughts. I will see you in heaven, save my chair, and we will have coffee together again.