The Court

Fourteen years ago, I met Rebecca Whitaker, the super smart girl in the back of my sophomore pre-calculus class.  We were little more than acquaintances, but our similar interests kept us together throughout high school.  We bonded over Shelby and Ronaldo, the sleeve puppets with which we kept ourselves entertained during AP Biology.  Incidentally, AP Biology was the first class I ever skipped, and Becca my first partner in crime.  We also shared Madrigals, AP History, and a love of Fruit Loops.

Twelve summers ago, my family participated in the Draper Arts Council production of My Fair Lady.  My dad got to sing in the men's quartet with Kurt Jeppson, "the guy with the hat" (that's just what we always called him... his name may have been Jared?) and somebody named BJ who seemed familiar to me.  When my senior year started, I quickly realized that BJ was actually Brett, who was in Madrigals with me.  In addition to sharing the common denominator of Becca, we also shared an easily-skipped 2nd period class and enjoyed several trips to Sconecutter for scones and raspberry lemonade.

That same year, I met a junior fairly new to our school, another fellow Madrigal named Phil Hall.  We had common friends, and even though I was steadily dating someone else, I asked him to go to the Christmas dance with me.  I remember awkwardly slow dancing with him to the theme from Armageddon all the while thinking of my boyfriend because that was kind of "our song."  Phil pulled me closer and told me if we were going to dance, we might as well dance.  For the record, that didn't make it any less awkward.

I have to be honest that in high school, these were just people I knew.  These were not the people I spent yearbook day with, proclaiming how much we'd all miss each other.  I didn't even know yet what they meant to me.

College was a bit of a struggle for me as I left home and tried to figure out who I was.  I went to Utah State where I didn't really know anyone.  Within the first week, I found out Becca was a student there, too, and we became inseparable.  She and Brett and Phil had forged a strong friendship, and she was kind enough to take me under her wing and welcome me into her circle.  Brett and Phil would sometimes drive up on weekends, sometimes we would meet up at home, and sometimes we'd drive down to UVSC where Brett was going to school.  We'd laugh, have waterfights, listen to little-known musicals, or sit around the piano and sing.  Even though I didn't have a clue where my life was headed, they accepted me for exactly who I was.  After all, we were convinced we all shared part of one brain.  When I broke up with my high school flame, they were there to help me figure it all out.  I wasn't always the best person, and sometimes I was a downright awful friend, but they stuck with me.

Brett got called on his mission.  Becca got married.  Phil got called on his mission.  I got married.  Life happened.  Brett and Phil both got married.  People moved.  We've all kept in minimal touch, but we've mostly tended to our own lives.

As luck would have it, Brett, Phil, and Becca all managed to end up in Georgia.  Oh, and -- vital piece of information -- Brett happened to marry my sister.  So here I am visiting my sister in Georgia this week, and Phil's parents were kind enough to have us all over to dinner.  As I posed for a picture with three of the best friends I could ever have, I couldn't help but think of the lyrics I wrote before Brett left on his mission.  We had called ourselved "The Court," with Becca and I being princesses and Brett and Phil being the knights sworn to protect us.  I wrote this song, which I bawled through at the piano in Brett's house the night before he left for the MTC.

There are people who'll go through your life and leave no trace,

There are others' whose names will bring a smile to your face,

But the people whose presence you could never do without

Are the ones whose love for you you'll never doubt.

We're the Court of the Rock and on Christ we depend.

His work and His glory are ours to defend.

And though our paths diverge now, they'll rejoin in the end,

So see you later, see you soon my dear friend.

It's been ten years since Brett left.  Ten years since we started out on our own individual paths, and I still feel just as lucky to call each of these people my friends.  So to three people to whom I owe so much of myself, "Though our paths diverge now, they'll rejoin in the end.  So see you later, see you soon my dear friend."