Friendship

 I've been really contemplating friendship lately... so I googled it.

Turns out, there are some cool google images about friendship... some made most likely by kiddos -- and they hit the nail on the head.

 

New Friend

So... yesterday, for the first time since March 13, we ran a family errand.  There was a store in Grand Junction that Hubby and I both needed to be there in person to accomplish our errand.

So, we decided that less people would be out and about on a Friday than the weekend, so we loaded up our suburban for the first time in over a month -- clearly we're rusty because Lee Lee made it out the door and all the way to the store before we noticed she didn't have any shoes.

We had masks for everyone except Hunter, we had hand sanitizer in the car, and I told the kids not to touch anything about 100 times.

The kids did well staying close, minimizing our time in the store, not messing with their masks for the most part, and remembering how to behave outside of the house.

They did make a new friend at the store, and it was the sweetest thing.  Our kids were huddled by our cart, where we had told them to stay, and a little boy and his family came up near to where we were -- about six feet away.  The little boy was watching a show on a phone, and he stayed six feet away, but turned the phone around so our kids could see what he was watching.

It was such a sweet gesture of child-like friendship, but also still understanding the reality of social distancing.  (I blurred out his face because this isn't a person that we know and I wanted to respect privacy).

I never could have imagined this world for my children -- telling them to wear a mask, not to touch anything, and stand away from other people... but I also want them to remember this because I hope and pray that someday this will be nothing more than a memory and they will never take good health and modern medicine for granted.

Different Perspective

I vaguely remember when the movie Sex and the City 2 came out.  I was in graduate school when the first Sex and the City movie was released, and I was working as a preschool director in Colorado when Sex and the City 2 was released.  Hubby and I were dating at the time but not seriously yet.

All that to say, I didn't like scene that I'm about to share when I first saw the movie.  The movie itself was funny but I didn't like this scene.

Well, a few months ago, I noticed Sex and the City 2 was coming up on television, so I recorded it.  When I re-watched this same clip nearly eight years later, I saw it through a completely different perspective, and now I really appreciate it.

Nothing like time, and four children to provide me a totally different perspective.

** Warning, the clip does have some inappropriate language **

True Friendship

Here was my conversation yesterday with a friend via text:

 

How's Your Heart?

I am in intense person.  I feel intensely, I cheer intensely, I grieve intensely, I love intensely, and I live intensely.  I'm still not entirely sure how my husband and I work so well because he is a very easy-going, "shake it off" kind of man.

All of my close friends are not close.  That is to say, they live hundreds, and even thousands of miles away from me.  Our means of keeping in touch for years is through sporadic phone calls, facebook updates, texts, and emails.

This means when we actually see each other, which can be once every few years, or once every ten years, we have to make the most of the time together. 

I have found that the best use of our time is to ask one question,
"How's your heart?"

That simple question, "How's your heart?" covers everything.

When I ask "How's your heart?" it includes:

•  How is the health of your heart?
• What is on your mind these days?
• What are you feeling blessed by?
• What are you struggling with?
• How is God challenging you right now?
• What are you hoping and praying for right now?
• What is your greatest joy right now?

When a friend asks me "How is your heart?" I know I am safe in the conversation.  I know this friend is a place where all guard can be dropped and I can honestly confide whatever is going on.  For me, there is no sweeter, of love-filled question than this.

So, How is YOUR heart?