MYYYYYYYY LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE!!

Twenty five years ago, my life changed forever. I was working in a mall pre-selling gym memberships and right across from my store was a tanning salon. One morning, this huge wrestler and his tiny wife walked in. She was strikingly beautiful with her long, thick black hair and porcelain skin. You know how us women are! We check out beautiful women, probably more than men do! Ok, maybe not:).

When they emerged from the salon, Terry, her husband, started talking to the guys I worked with. That left Trudy and I standing there. It wasn't for long. We started talking and weren't finished by the time Terry was ready to leave. We found out that we lived basically next door to eachother and exchanged phone numbers on the spot. We've been the very best of friends ever since. With all sincerity, Trudy showed me Christ. She knew EVERYTHING about me, the good, the bad and the ugly. She loved me anyway. We teased a lot that we were the real Gayle and Oprah (without all the lesbian rumors!). Without fail, when I called her or she called me, we answered with "MY LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEE!!!!

A chance meeting in the middle of a mall! God is so good.

This blog would be more like a book if I wrote about all the times we've shared together during our beautiful friendship. One day I might do it anyway.

Trudy has two sons. Don is 31 and Cody is 22. She adored and loved her sons like any good mother does. She doted, encouraged, laughed and played with her boys all day long. She not only was an amazing wife to Terry, she was an exceptional mother to her boys. Trudy's boys are both special needs. They will always need to live at home. She never complained about her life. She never showed the frustration that she would be raising these boys all of her life. Her sadness was that her boys would never enjoy a 'normal' life. Or the fact that she would never get to experience being a grandmother. I know that's why she LOVED, truly LOVED being around my 4 girls and my granddaughter. She thanked me many times for allowing her to be a part of their lives. It was a blessing more for us, than Trudy, but that's not how she looked at it.

Trudy didn't want to die. She told me this numerous times over and over again. I would make my usual jokes and even tell her to "shut up, you're going to outlive us all girl!" And then we'd laugh, like so many other times.

Please understand that it wasn't the dying that scared her. She loved Jesus with all her heart and longed to be out of pain. But, it was leaving her boys behind that terrified her. We spent a glorious four days together just last month decorating my new place and she talked about her greatest fear was that noone could love or care for the boys like she did. With tears in her eyes, she said, "I have to outlive Cody, Vic". I reassured her that God was going to take care of everything and she had to trust Him.

I know people are saying "she's in a better place", "she's not in pain anymore", "God needed another angel", etc. I understand and I know they mean well. I KNOW Heaven is a better place, but she did not want to die. She wanted to be here with all of us until she didn't feel her boys needed her anymore.

Finally, we were living close again after 23 years. We were so excited about our "girl sleepovers", our next Chateau Elan trip and all the crazy other things we planned.

This wasn't supposed to happen. But it did. I find myself calling her voicemail just to hear 2 seconds of that voice. That beautiful voice that calmed me so many times in my life. That voice that admonished me when appropriate, or rejoiced with me when we talked about how blessed we were to be mothers and friends.

15 years ago, Trudy and I had made a pact. We decided, (provided that statistics don't lie and women do live longer than men), that whether it be our 80's or 90's, we were going to rent a beautiful condo on the beach to live out the rest of our lives together. We said we'd be the Golden Girls. We laughed about this a lot.

Trudy Taylor was so proud of me. She loved to tell me so. She was proud to call me her friend, and proud of the work I've dedicated my life to. She so loved to travel with me and hear me speak and without fail, would cry each and everytime I spoke or sang somewhere. She was my greatest cheerleader, supporter and never stopped loving me even when I did the most studidest thing. She was a walking Jesus to so many. She loved unconditionally and lit up every room she walked into. She truly loved her husband, her boys, her Mom and family, my girls and me. I know that she did. I know that they know that she did. It's funny because Trudy loved to go on and on about "I wish I could be more like you, Vic, talk in front of people, save babies, she would go on and on and tell me how much she admired me" I would look at her dumbfounded and say, "are you seriously kidding me? Ok, yes, I'm blessed to do what I do, but it's YOU who are my hero. It's me who admires you! You've always been the rock for everyone, you're the sensible one, the best of us all". She'd say, "Really? Do you really think I've made a difference in anybody's life?" I would say, "well, I can't speak for anybody else, but look at how you've made one in mine!" Trudy really didn't know how wonderful she was. She was one of the kindest women I've ever known. Terry told me last night that he's received over 100 emails and phone calls of support. If you met her once, you didn't forget her.

This will be a tough road for many. God will help us through. He has to.

Trudy Kay Davidson Taylor, you are and will forever be my Golden Girl. And you were always the better of the two of us. I love you, MYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY LOOOOOOOOOVE!