I feel the need to post a little tribute to My Best Friend, Tracy. 
(tellen on ravelry)
She is an amazing woman; funny, beautiful, motivated, smart, sarcastic, kind, loving, giving, I could go on & on.
We’ve been friends for over about 15 years now.
Over the course of our friendship we’ve gone through many changes. At first we were just work acquaintances, working in stores that were across from each other in an outlet mall. Then Tracy switched companies and worked for the same company as I did, eventually being my ‘boss’. That’s when I bullied her into our first tattoo together. Then our friendship took a break while I moved away, focused on my marriage and had some kids. Then we moved back to the same area as Tracy and I went back to work. That is when our friendship really bloomed. She became more than just a friend, she became a confidante, a partner, a sister. Again, my family moved and the distance was too much this time so we convinced Tracy to come down to Santa Barbara with us. It was a rough first year for her here being so far from family and friends. But eventually she found her own groove, her own place here.
Our friendship again changed. She went from being ‘my best friend’ to being ‘our best friend’.
She’s George’s best friend, the kids best friend, my best friend.
She has taken a place in our family that we didn’t know needed to be filled.
Over the last year and a half we have had another change, this one being a little more sad but also more mature in it’s makeup. She lost her Mom, thus we lost a member of our family. It brought about profound changes in Tracy. She felt the desire to seek out a deeper connection in life that the loss of her Mom had left in her.
She wanted to be whole. Not ‘whole again’ because she realized she was never whole to begin with. No, she wanted to have her soul fed and her life to not be solely her own. She desired God.
With that desire came a change. She saw what her Christian friends around her had, a peace and knowledge that no matter how flawed we are we are still loved and taken care of by a Power that is so great we can’t even comprehend it we just trust it completely. She saw that we make mistakes, own up to them, make them right and move on. She saw that we Love each other with a Love that can’t come from flawed people, it comes from a knowledge that she didn’t posess.
She decided to seek out the truth for herself.
For over a year she came to church faithfully, met with our Pastor faithfully, learned how to pray faithfully. Now, understand that faithfully includes much doubt, learning and determination. She was determined to figure this out on her own, on her own time line.
Last September our son Tyler was baptized. He asked Tracy if she had been baptized. Tracy answered no, she had not. Tyler asked why. She told him she didn’t know. He asked if she could be baptized. She answered that yes, she could. Then he asked again, why hadn’t she been baptized then? She couldn’t answer that one.
For the next week she mulled over that question and came to the realization that she could answer it. She could be baptized because she does believe. She does believe that she has a Savior in Christ. She does believe that she has been along a path without salvation and wants it, craves it badly.
So yesterday, she was baptized and professed her faith in Christ through her testimony to the entire congregation with George & I standing beside her.
It was amazing. She is amazing.
There is a strength that Tracy has always possessed that now has morphed into a confidence and purpose. She radiates beauty, happiness, kindness, joy. These are all things she possessed before but now they make Tracy whole.
We love Tracy, as our sister in Christ, as an eternal family member.
Now for the good stuff ;o) Pictures!!
We are blessed beyond belief to have a friend like Tracy.
We love you Tracy!