Daddy used to warn me that the years would pick up speed.
Weight would be harder to lose.
And friends would be more precious.
I watched my Daddy as he would lose his friends and so much of himself along with them.
I had the blessing of spending the last few days with lifelong friends.
I have known every one of them for almost 40 years.
When I tell them I have a crazy idea-
I hold my breath and wait for the discouragement.
They instead do the exact opposite.
Not only do they laugh, they expect my crazy idea. And then they encourage me and assist.
There were a few beautiful moments that I tried to stop and say thank you.
I was scared that if I said what was on my heart, I would ruin the moment.
And sometimes, the words just don’t come.
But the memories-
They are absolutely on overdrive.
The random facts. The song lyrics. The movies.
All of the common ties. They made us.
In the mix of our laughter, we discuss health and children. We talk grief and gratitude.
We celebrated milestone birthdays and roared with laughter as we shared our bad parenting stories.
I can not tell you how priceless and precious it is when you can share your mistakes.
In a world where we are all Facebook Fabulous, thank you Lord for giving me friends who know and love the me that social media has never met.
.
And I am absolutely fine with it.
Thirty years ago, our biggest worry was probably losing a ballgame.
Now, we discuss the pain and pride of our children leaving home.
The frustration of caring for and the pain of losing our parents.
You sometimes lose who you are in the process.
And for a couple of days we found us.
It has been a blessing to be able to stop for a few days and just be ourselves.
Whoever we were. Whoever we are. And whoever we become.
See you in detention next Saturday.
All my love,
The Basket Case
cherylsuzette 