Some Friendships Find Their Way Back ❤️

Some Friendships Find Their Way Back

There are people who come into our lives for a season.

And then there are people who somehow find their way back.

Chasity is one of those people for me.

We knew each other in high school, but our friendship really found its footing later, after I was married. I was there when Abby was born, and when Elijah came along, I had the incredible privilege of cutting his cord. For years, I was their godmom. Chasity was also my second photographer for several years, so our lives became intertwined in more ways than one.

But what I don’t think she will ever fully understand is how much she and Elijah helped carry me through one of the hardest losses of my life.

After losing Bella, there were days that were simply hard. Chasity would bring Elijah to see me, or I would go with her to appointments and help her advocate for him as she navigated his medical issues. At the time, I thought I was helping her.

Looking back, they were helping me too.

Those moments gave me somewhere to put some of the love I was carrying. They gave me a reason to get outside of my own grief for a little while. I genuinely don’t know how I would have survived that season without them.

But even friendships that mean that much can become complicated.

After the tornado devastated our community, so many people around us needed help. A situation involving fundraising and what should or shouldn’t be shared created tension between us. It wasn’t one dramatic moment where everything suddenly exploded. It was a stressor added to a friendship that eventually became strained.

Life moved forward.

I moved to Columbus, and somewhere along the way, Chasity and I lost touch.

I reached out once. Then I didn’t try again.

There was also another friendship in my life at the time. Chasity saw things in that relationship that I couldn’t—or maybe wasn’t ready to—see for myself.

And because apparently I occasionally have to learn things the hard way, I didn’t listen. 😂

Years later, I finally understood what she had been trying to tell me.

That friendship became increasingly difficult for me, particularly surrounding my loss. I could be genuinely happy for someone else’s growing family while also acknowledging that constant pregnancy updates, groups, pictures and conversations could hurt. Both things could be true at the same time.

Eventually, in July 2025, I realized I couldn’t keep ignoring what it was doing to me.

By then, though, something else had already begun changing.

After moving back to Griffin and staying with my parents, I reached out to Chasity again.

This time, I told her the truth.

I told her how bad things had gotten for me. I told her about my mental health, the surgery, the relationship I had left and the pieces of my life I was trying to put back together.

And instead of pretending the years between us hadn’t happened, we talked.

We heard each other.

We both had things we needed to understand about the other person’s side. We couldn’t go backward and rewrite what happened, but we could decide what we wanted to do with it now.

And, eventually, I had to admit something I really didn’t want to admit:

She had been right.

I know. Horrible. 😂

Chasity, if you’re reading this, please don’t get too excited. I still reserve the right to learn my lessons the hard way.

It’s been about a year now since we found our way back into each other’s lives.

I still haven’t gotten to see her in person. We don’t talk every day. We aren’t trying to recreate the friendship we had years ago.

And maybe that’s part of why this version works.

We both know the other person is there.

We know that if something happens, we can reach out.

There’s something beautiful about a friendship reaching a point where it doesn’t require constant conversation to prove that it exists.

Today, I get to look at the woman Chasity has become and see an amazing mother, a wonderful wife, and—because apparently some things never change—someone who is still just as stunning as ever.

But more than anything, I look at our friendship and see proof that sometimes a chapter ending doesn’t mean the whole story is over.

Some relationships aren’t meant to come back.

Some shouldn’t.

But every once in a while, someone you thought had become part of your past walks back into your present, and you realize that maybe God wasn’t finished writing that part of your story.

Chasity and I aren’t the same people we were all those years ago.

Our friendship isn’t the same either.

And I think that’s okay.

Maybe healing a friendship isn’t about getting back what you had.

Maybe it’s about meeting each other again as the people you’ve become.

I honestly never thought ours would heal.

But in our own way, it has.

And if I’ve learned anything from the people God has placed along my way, it’s this:

Sometimes people are meant for a season.

Sometimes they’re meant for a lifetime.

And sometimes they leave for a season, only for God to bring them back when you’re finally ready to understand why they were there in the first place.

I’m grateful He brought Chasity back into mine. ❤️

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