1100

I’ve had the same best friend for 8 (going on 9) years. We became bffs because we were the only people who got to school at 7:30am sophomore year of high school and we figured it would be weird if we didn’t talk to each other. I randomly invited her to come on spring break with my family when we barely knew each other and we’ve been rolling with the punches ever since. 

Over the years we’ve grown together a lot and we’ve been moral support for each other’s biggest moments.

First kisses.
Graduating from high school.
Starting college.
First relationships.
Break ups.
Graduating from college.
Deaths of family members.
Moves to different cities.

7 years after becoming friends we made our teenage dream of living in an apartment in Chicago together a real thing.

There were a lot of things I expected and a whole lot of things I didn’t expect when I moved to Chicago. But the greatest thing I’ve learned is this: hold on. Because where Jesus is taking you will far and above exceed any expectation or dream you could have ever possibly had for yourself.

Through the ups and the downs of the past year and a half, the same thing has remained: we’ve grown together.

So naturally, last week we got matching tattoos.

Before you judge, before you laugh at us for getting twin tatts, let me explain. I wasn’t ever going to be a tattoo girl. I’m still not really, I don’t think my 2 baby little tattoos qualify me that much, but I have realized that there truly are some things I find important enough to commemorate on my body. They tell a story, they remind me of crucial times in my life and big decisions that have shaped me and my life.

 So, the other night, we got the same 4 little digits on the backs of our elbows.

 1100.

 1100 is our address. It’s both of our first real homes that we’ve made for ourselves. It’s the place where we host grow groups every Thursday. It’s the place that gathers people for movie nights and birthday parties and porch hangs. It’s the place where we’ve learned not to just have friends, but to build community with the people that encourage you along every facet of your journey. It’s the place where we stay up far too late having kitchen floor conversations.

 1100 is the place I’ve grown up. It’s the home I’ve lived in while making some of my most important life decisions.

 Seeing 1100 on the back of my elbow is always going to remind me of being 23 and living in the temporary insanity that is working a full-time job, interning part-time for church and trying to keep up some semblance of a social life.

 It’s going to remind me of the people whose words literally impacted me and the course of my life through conversations on the porch or at the dining room table.

 It’s going to remind me of two of our other amazing friends who moved in across the hall and made all my dreams of living a real-life version of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. come true.

 1100 reminds me of God’s faithfulness. When I think about how many apartments we could have ended up in, in countless different Chicago neighborhoods, we were literally turned away from every one and ended up here. The most perfect location and the most God-ordained apartment for us. And if God was so faithful in this apartment where we will live for a small snippet of our lives, 1100 is going to remind me of all the other things He’s going to be faithful in for the rest of my life.

 A lot of people don’t understand why I’ve made the decision to get tattoos and a lot of people I know have a lot more tattoos than me. That’s all okay. But for me, they’re small reminders of the goodness I’ve encountered in this life.