Our tour guide reminded me of a friend I’d lost touch with years ago...

Winthrop is an old western town four hours from Seattle. It was one of several stops on a summer trip my husband and I took a few years ago. An unlikely tourist destination, you might say, but the mountain scenery was picture-perfect.

Eight of us met up for the Buckaroo Breakfast ride, led by a terrific teenage guide. “Your enthusiasm reminds me of my old friend Karen,” I told her. Karen and I met in the Massachusetts Junior Miss Pageant.

We stayed close over the next few years through phone calls and letters (mine always included snapshots), but gradually we saw each other less and less. “Along the way we lost touch,” I said. I pulled out my camera. “Smile!”

I wished I could send this shot to Karen, to show her how often I thought of her even after 20 years. God had given me a good friend. We were starved when we made it to the chuck wagon. I reached for a ladle at the same time as another woman.

“Are you Joyce Tudryn from Chicopee, Massachusetts?” she asked. Karen? No way! “Look,” I called to the guide. “It’s my friend! The one I told you about.” “That’s so awesome,” the girl said.

I pulled out my camera and took a picture of Karen. A good friend, who’d been hard to find.