2 More Sous Chefs and a Critique

I did it again. I failed my own writing challenge. I came to a couple of roots of the problem. 1) I get to being lazy too often. 2) I have a teenage resistance to feeling mandated for doing things. 3) I want my blog to be as sincere as possible. I found that trying to write about someone every day didn't feel organic and sincere. The people I ended up writing about I wrote because of the words and qualities about them were placed in me to share with others. Maybe that didn't make sense. All I'm saying is I didn't want to be complimenting just to be complimenting but I wanted to be inspired and that was a lot harder once I wasn't on campus. Yes, I will write an Easter and Lenten and quarantine reflection blog, BUT FIRST I must write about my two best friends Jack and Hannah.

Background: Jack and Hannah are dating, but I built my friendships with them separately. So I am not a third wheel leaning in either direction. We are more like a well-built tricycle that has the capability to lose its third wheel (me). In fact, it is an occasional dispute between the three of us who the actual third wheel is. Eventually, our groupchat name became "We r all the third wheel."

All in all, I like to reference Jack and Hannah as my better two-thirds.

I don't have the perfect words to describe Jack and Hannah nor do I want to enumerate all the great memories we share so I'm gonna do my best to keep it short and sweet.

This is the clearest way I can describe them, why they work well together, why they constantly teach me/inspire me to be a better person: God whispers into Jack's brain, God whispers into Hannah's heart.

Jack is truly one of the smartest guys I know. His ability to learn, know, and teach the faith is amazing. He's got the ability to challenge others to go deeper through questions and the ability to share the faith in more than one perspective. He can recognize gaps and points to grow for others and for himself. I am often blessed with new perspectives on the Gospel at Bible Study or a more critical view on something in everyday life from him.

Hannah has got this natural joy just to know and love others. I can't tell you how many people she meets briefly and calls her friend or best friend. It is not a joke either. It takes her negative amounts of minutes to start caring about you. She cares about you because you are human, no other qualifications. Well, she will also care about you if you are a dog too. The coolest thing about Hannah is she strives to know how to love all types of people. She wants to better love the suffering, the oppressed, the trauma struck, the rich, the depressed, the successful.

Of course, of course just because I marvel at Jack's intellect and Hannah's care does not mean that Jack is not good at caring or Hannah isn't incredibly smart. I actually find it to be just the opposite.

Jack applies his ability to learn and know to treat people well. I wasn't great friends with Jack in high school, but he led a club of prayer on Fridays. One Friday, he had us write letters to our future spouses. I can remember our friend Sophia having an off day, but being elated after hearing this activity. Afterward, I asked Jack about it. I think we shared some uncomfortableness with the idea of writing to our future spouse, but he shared with me that it was mainly to make Sophia happy. I find this to be a great quality of Jack. His ability to know allows him to celebrate and care for others in a deeper way. He often expresses his care in action. The man loves to cook for others and just loves to serve. Let me tell you, having a best friend (actually best friends) who love to cook is quite a bonus.

I consider myself pretty knowledgable on how to treat people right. Well, until I met Hannah. I don't mean that I felt stupid or inadequate, but I learned I had so much to learn. There are some IHOP runs we make that really just serves to fill Jack and I's stomachs. Other times, we will make IHOP or other runs that lead to deep conversations. Whenever I am stumped by the ability to understand and empathize, Hannah reveals it to me with great clarity and depth. Her understanding of others is backed by more than just intuition too. It combines experience, science, research, and history. I've learned treating people right and loving your neighbor isn't necessarily the same thing. I could write a whole nother blog on that and maybe I will someday.

So maybe a more complete representation of Jack and Hannah: Jack's intellect directs his heart and Hannah's heart directs her intellect. Neither is better than the other they are both just awesome.

Besides these deep, amazing qualities of Jack and Hannah, I am thankful for their little things too. I am grateful for Jack's love of sugar, especially mint chocolate chip ice cream, his goof, the fact that he gives his tummy the ability to be happy whenever he eats food, his peace sign slingshot at church, and his corny, unashamed dance moves. I am grateful for Hannah's love of trolls, her peace sign face, the way she gets excited about Fresh Thyme, sushi, board/card games, style and tacos.

I write about these two a lot, so now I hope you understand them a little more. Also, enjoy the picture of us ice skating. Well, them ice skating and me trying not to fall. Happy Easter. He is risen, hallelujah!