The Sweetness of a Friend

"Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel." Proverbs 27:9 (ESV)

Well, I can't attest to oil making my heart glad, but I certainly experienced the sweetness of my friendship with Aimee last weekend as we talked, encouraged, counseled and prayed together while exploring God's beautiful creation in Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands National Park. I feel like we just tried to soak in each other's presence for 2 1/2 days. It wasn't enough, but it was wonderful.

I picked her up from the Burbank airport on Friday afternoon and we tried to high-tail it out of LA and get to the coast ASAP.  Unfortunately, I kept missing my turns and having to reroute our path, so it took longer than it needed to. But, once we finally saw the ocean, we pulled off the highway and scaled down a small but quite steep hill, jumped over some railroad tracks, and ta-da---ocean!! Ahhhh (big sigh). Aimee had never been to CA and she never tired of looking at the view of mountains on one side and ocean on the other.

Aimee found a great seafood restaurant for dinner that looked out over Ventura Harbor. The view was beautiful and food was amazing, but the conversation was the best part. Aimee is a fantastic listener and she is slow to speak, usually asking questions that make me consider my situation in a different way and almost always giving advice that is more along the lines of sharing wisdom than telling me what I should do. Just one reason why I love her.

After dinner, we headed to the hotel and went to bed early, since Aimee had a long day of travel and her body was still on CST.

Saturday we spent exploring Santa Barbara. We walked and walked and walked some more! Our day included a delightful coffee shop, a farmer's market with beautiful and delicious treats, shopping for cold medicine, walking down Stern's Wharf, a wine tasting and olive oil tasting at Santa Barbara Winery, piddling around a few cute shops, some pretty delicious ice cream, and a scenic drive up to the Old Mission and then back down to the beach where we relaxed our feet waiting for the sun to set. After another great meal at a Mexican place Aimee picked out, we headed back to the hotel and called it a night.

Sunday was Channel Islands day. A boat took us out to Santa Cruz island. It took about 1 1/2 hours to get there, and along the way, we spotted some California Grey Whales, dolphins, and a seal! The whales were truly amazing, but I love that we got to see a seal swimming freely in the ocean. I've never seen that before!

We spent about 4-5 hours on Santa Cruz Island. We did a guided hike that was very informative and then we hiked a little more on our own. The scenery was awesome, and the weather was perfect. We were so blessed to experience it. We brought a picnic lunch of some fruit and bread from the Farmer's Market and some cheese we bought at a little cheese shop in Santa Barbara. It was so delicious, we forgot to eat the Butterfingers bar I brought for dessert!!

When we returned to the mainland, we were both pretty exhausted. We decided to do an easy dinner of leftover bread and fruit, along with some wine and cheese and chocolate we picked up at Trader Joe's. We relaxed by the fire pit at the hotel and ate dinner while we shared more stories and struggles and encouragement and wisdom.

Aimee's flight left early on Monday morning so after a 2-hour drive to the airport, it was a quick goodbye.

The sweetness of a friend...that is the best way I can describe my weekend. I'm so thankful, for all of it.