"Toss! Toss! Hehehehehe!"

Jason treated me to the traveling Broadway show, "Wicked", this past weekend.  I have been to New York City probably 10 times since the show opened there, but I had never seen this particular musical.  I had heard rave reviews, but for some reason, had never seen it.  We had a grand time and it was quite a day!
The whole story is kind of the story around the "Wizard of Oz".  I never knew that the Wicked Witch was nothing more than someone who had been taken wrong her whole life.  She tried to do good, but others would belittle her or make fun of her; this can most definitely make one bitter.  One person would befriend her, Glinda, the Good Witch.
Glinda tried to make Elphaba (the wicked witch) into what she was, by teaching her how to "toss" her hair (thus the title of the blog) and laugh and to always find the good in things.  Though they started out as enemies, they ended up as friends and learned much from the other.  
My most favorite part of the show was when they sang "For Good" to each other.  If you have not heard it, here are the lyrics:

(Glinda): 
I've heard it said 
That people come into our lives for a reason 
Bringing something we must learn 
And we are led 
To those who help us most to grow 
If we let them 
And we help them in return 
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true 
But I know I'm who I am today 
Because I knew you... 

Like a comet pulled from orbit 
As it passes a sun 
Like a stream that meets a boulder 
Halfway through the wood 
Who can say if I've been changed for the better? 
But because I knew you 
I have been changed for good 

(Elphaba): 
It well may be 
That we will never meet again 
In this lifetime 
So let me say before we part 
So much of me 
Is made of what I learned from you 
You'll be with me 
Like a handprint on my heart 
And now whatever way our stories end 
I know you have re-written mine 
By being my friend... 

Like a ship blown from its mooring 
By a wind off the sea 
Like a seed dropped by a skybird 
In a distant wood 
Who can say if I've been changed for the better? 
But because I knew you 


[ From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/for-good-lyrics-wicked.html ]

(Glinda): 
Because I knew you 

(Both): 
I have been changed for good 

(Elphaba): 
And just to clear the air 
I ask forgiveness 
For the things I've done you blame me for 

(Glinda): 
But then, I guess we know 
There's blame to share 

(Both): 
And none of it seems to matter anymore 

(Glinda): 
Like a comet pulled from orbit 
As it passes a sun 
Like a stream that meets a boulder 
Halfway through the wood 

(Elphaba): 
Like a ship blown from its mooring 
By a wind off the sea 
Like a seed dropped by a bird in the wood 

(Both): 
Who can say if I've been 
Changed for the better? 
I do believe I have been 
Changed for the better 

(Glinda): 
And because I knew you... 

(Elphaba): 
Because I knew you... 

(Both): 
Because I knew you... 
I have been changed for good...


As that was being sang, I could not help but to think back over the friends in my lifetime and see how the friendships with them have molded me and made me who I am today.  There are some, like Elphaba, who have had tragic happenings in their lives and then some like Glinda, who truly have had everything given to them on a silver platter.  Sometimes like Elphaba, we allow those tough times to make us bitter, and sometimes like Glinda, we fail to see the big picture, that there is far more to this world than "me".
Individually, I'm not sure Glinda and Elphaba would have learned so much.  I'm not sure if the writer of "Wicked" realizes this or not, but we were designed to do life together.  We learn from one another. We grow with one another.  I've traveled and shopped and laughed with friends.  I have sent some away from my house not knowing if I would ever see them again, but trusting God to hold them.  I've sat with friends in ICU waiting rooms, I've sat in hotel hallways and lobbies, cars in parking lots, hospital rooms, living rooms, bedrooms and funeral homes... we have shared life. We have cried on each other shoulders. We have prayed for and been prayed for.  We have depended on and been depended on.  We have taken the meals and have had the meals brought to us.  We have lived life together. We have worshiped our God together.  And together we have grown.  And I thank God for those friendships that grow closer because together we are seeking Him.  
"I do believe I have been 
Changed for the better 
Because I knew you... 
I have been changed for good."


I love you, dear friends, and thank God for the moments we have shared!

"Sista Friends"

"Big Apple Friends"

"Very special 'younger' friends" :)

"sweet friends"

"growing up friends"

"beach friends" 

"believe it or not friends!" :) 

amazing friends!

"encouraging friends"

"lifetime friends"