Lauren Schwaar Is My Hero

Meet Lauren

Today I miss Lauren. There is no one in the world quite like Lauren Schwaar. She is priceless, hilarious, tender-hearted, pleasantly sarcastic, humble, patient, a fantastic listener, and actually human, just like the rest of us. Last summer (two summers ago?) I played sand volleyball every week with my church, and I would always try to be on Lauren's team, not just because she is a kick-ass athlete and made the rest of us not-so-great athletes look better, but because Lauren is a team player. She genuinely wants others to achieve what they can, and she wants to be there to help make that happen.


I am not a great athlete (shocking, I know) I am however, irrationally competitive. So, sports are a stage for frustration. One week I had enough - enough failure, enough irritation with myself for being the weakest link, and enough angst to stubbornly not quit. While in between  matches, I took out my angst on trying to serve overhand - mostly so I could hit that ball with all of my might and to try my hardest to get something right without being in the way. The ball went under the net again and again and again, and Lauren lobbed it back to me again and again and again. We never talked about it. I did not ask for help, and in fact I did not really want encouragement or coaching. I needed the space to be upset at my lack of athletic ability. I still have no idea if Lauren knew all of this.  She is one smart cookie, and I would guess that through her years of basketball that she knew what state I was in, she saw a need, and a way to meet me in that place. She simply did what she does- she was there, letting me be how I was, quietly helping me get past my own frustration so that I could get better. There was little hope of ever learning to serve overhand, but there was realistic hope that if I could work out my frustration that I would have more fun.

I have no idea what is going on in this picture, but there is a llama and that is awesome

And I did, because Lauren was not afraid of my angst, and she was not afraid of my poor athleticism and she was willing up to her ankles in both. Lauren is a steadfast friend. This quality carries over into many, many parts of Lauren's life and I am excited to see what God will bring about through her and in her. I miss you, I love you dear friend, and you are my hero. ;)

Doesn't she just look like a boss?

My point is further illustrated by my search of Lauren's facebook to steal pictures of her. (Calm down, Lauren, they were already on the internet and you have more facebook friends than I have blog followers) 1. It was not east find a picture of Lauren by herself. 2. In almost every picture I did find Lauren was doing something crazy badass or just crazy like running, hiking, jumping off of heights, or pretending that she is upset by being hugged, squished, or in other ways celebrated by others. 3. There are a bazillion pictures of Lauren, all posted by other people. Laruen. is. awesome. And no, darlin, I don't have a back-up super hero.