Oh to clone this youthful exuberance and share it with the world...

Baby Monkey With Backpack

Coconut Trees (top) and Tobi, Mosaic, Raggedy Ann (bottom) by Kassedi (almost 4) who said, "My heart, when it's in the right place for the family, comes up with these ideas, and then I paint these pictures.  I painted my ideas.  My strength helped me draw these.  And my skills helped me."

      ...dance!

The GREAT outdoors doesn't have to be far away--at least not when you're five years old.  My youngest son can collect "nature" anywhere he goes, and in a nod to being in the moment--anywhere he already is.  He gathers nature with reverence and unadulterated joy absolutely anywhere his feet take him.  So this morning when he happily gathered some of the most gorgeous leaves imaginable, it was one of those Ah-hah moments for me. 

The air was crisp, the clouds marshmallowy, the sun brilliant.  And there frolicked my jubilant son in what you would have thought was a meadow or the top of a mountain kissed by an early spring, but was actually our neighbors' driveway.  Asphalt no less.  Note to self:  Life is not a destination, it's definitely a journey...and the journey is to be enjoyed moment by moment, INside each of them...not wanting to be anywhere else but where your feet stand. 

Here's to my nature lover, my little rock hound, and the most constant and authentic reminder I have to enjoy this amazing planet! 

I have a friend who likes to help me get a handle on my life.  She left about an hour ago after helping me (for the fourth time in a row) clean up and clean out my house and my garage.  As the direct result of her amazing help, I can now park my mini-van in the garage.  Oh, perhaps that doesn't sound like much, but it's the first time that has happened in, oh, 12-15 years!  Why would a friend do this?  Why oh why?  I wrack my brain trying to come up with a logical answer and then it comes to me.  She LOVES me.  She really and truly loves me--enough to overlook her own questions (which she does not utter) about why I can't get a handle on all this myself--and she just pitches in and cleans up any and everything she comes across.  Have you ever had a friend such as this?  If you have...then you know what I mean.  If you haven't, then I wish this for you, because it is remarkable. 

Not only does my friend ask me how I'm doing (overwhelmed?), but also she takes it directly into her heart and soul and thinks, "Britton needs me."  That's all it takes for her to pick up the phone on the weekend after Thanksgiving and say, "Hey, what are you doing."

"I'm thinking about doing some more work on the garage."

"Great," she says with enthusiasm that actually sounds genuine, "I'll be right over!"

I should have taken before and after pictures.  Today she came and helped me with the inside of the house.  We cleaned the food pantry together (nope, I'm not jesting).  And let me not forget to tell you that she also folded laundry, swept the neglected corners of the kitchen; and without a hint of judgement, picked up sundry sticks and stones throughout the house (I have a five-year-old boy) and calmly asked me what to do with them.  Did I mention that she brings me snacks when I forget about eating??

Perhaps she does it for the champagne and cranberry juice we sip along the way...but I don't think so!  Something tells me that the love we share is a gift from God...a God who knew that if he didn't provide my precious friend, I wouldn't have made it this far.  Oh, there is so much more I could tell you about her, but you just wouldn't believe it!

I have two friends--friends who regularly meet me in the dark for exercise and friendship beyond the bounds of normal.  As life would have it, they both share the same name.  Nope, I'm not going to tell you who they are, because I don't want you to steal them!!  Mile after mile we trod along and talk, pray, commiserate, sympathize, empathize, advise, listen share, gripe and ponder. 

My days are richer because of these amazing women.  My days are filled with the silent succor of support and love.  How can I possibly explain what they mean to me?

I have a friend who accepts me for who I am...at any given moment...who understands when I flake on a run, or just can't give it my all.  She humors me by letting me win a few laps in the pool now and again, and she always always cares about what I think and feel.  The fact that two years of her life went by without me noticing...didn't even offend her.  Oh...wait a minute---is that because I was thinking that she is two years younger than she actually is?  Hmmmm.  Now I'm confused!!

I have a friend who lives hours away, but who feels as close to me as when she lived practically next door.  Time and distance have only brought us closer.  Not because we've been great at keeping in touch (we haven't), but because the love we share is stronger than the time and distance between us--stronger than gravity, or even time immortal.  We will dance in heaven together, I'm sure of it. 

I have a friend who is the best friend a girl can have.  This friend seems to know me best--and because of that she doesn't ask a lot of tedious questions, or even question why I made certain decisions.  Sometimes she doesn't ask any questions except those that involve when we will see each other next, how things are going, or whether or not I need any money, or food, or help, or hugs, or books, or useful items, or...just love...plain old ordinarily amazing love.  This girl happens to be my mother, and I will be thanking the Lord for her as long as I have breath or thought or spirit enough to pray.  Thank you Lord for the friend I have in my mother, for the friends I've mentioned above, and for my other friends who didn't make the "uh-oh, my kids need some attention cut-off tonight!"

I love you all...so so much.