Best friends

Don't know who your best friend might be... but at this point in life, mine is Tammi. In many ways, we are too much alike, but I think that makes us able to understand each other better than other people can.
When Tammi and I first became friends, she seemed like one of the most DRIVEN people I had ever met. For the past 7 years, she has been going to night-school while working full-time. She always had lots of goals... and over time, they have become more and more specific. Originally, she just wanted to do some sort of humanitarian work (like the peace-corp)... and gradually, she felt called to do work in the name of the Lord in Africa. I remember watching an Oprah with her about Africa, where they showed some people (nuns, I think) living in little huts caring for orphans. Tammi told me that she and Michael should do this.
Today, she left to do exactly that - care for orphans in Nairobi, Kenya. I am so proud of her. And I don't know who I am going to process life with.
Tammi and I used to talk on the phone about 3 hours per day. You may wonder how we could fit this in... she would work while we talked; and I would drive around, carpooling kids. I don't know what topics could take this amount of time. But I know that it could count as therapy, covering all the issues that life and marriage could throw my way.
I am scared as she goes... not really for her safety (God's in charge of that). More about change. I don't like changing friendships. I like to travel through life with a friend, changing as we experience things together. And as of today, my Tammi will be experiencing a whole new world. She will have to learn to parent and teach 44 kids at House of Hope... and we can't spend 3 hours a day on the phone figuring out how to do it. Next year when she returns for a month, she will be changed by these experiences... and I will be changed by my year.
It is hard.