I’VE BEEN THINKING LATELY ABOUT LIFE’S SEASONS, something that happens to me every Fall when nature shifts to a different gear. For so many people the changes come with an exclamation point, while for others this passage is quiet, less dramatic. But there are always transitions, I suspect.
This year, for me, the move has been marked by two gatherings that reminded me how important it is to lasso the here and now while it is here and now.
FIRST THERE WAS THE BABY SHOWER. Eliza made the long journey home to celebrate with her long-ago friend, Kati. It was a biggie for us, my sweet Eliza and me, this realization that her Little Girl buddies are all grown up, living lives of their own, beautiful and celebratory. She and Kati met in first grade when we became across-the-street neighbors and they became do-everything-together besties. Years later Kati’s precious family moved to another city, and high school brought them both new friends and other focuses. Then college sent them yet again in other directions.
How poignant it was that the girls reunited at the joyful occasion of a baby shower. What heartstrings it pulled as we, their Moms (and good friends ourselves) watched them hug and laugh together.
They were six only yesterday, we both were thinking, riding bikes, going to girl scouts, braiding each other’s hair.
Oh life does have a way of moving on.
AND THEN I RAN INTO CHARLIE and made a promise so rarely kept.
We need to catch up. Let’s get together soon. I’ll call you!
It’s the kind of thing that seems to happen after life brings into your orbit an acquaintance who then becomes a friend, and then a good friend. Eventually the connection that brought you together is over–you change jobs, or baseball season ends, or your kids graduate–and without this gravitational pull, drift begins.
It’s a funny thing, isn’t it, how we genuinely treasure people life brings our way, and yet it can be so difficult to maintain those relationships.
I’ll call you soon!
This time, I actually did it.
Charlie, Cathy, Eliza, Vicki and Tim–missing Sally, but having a blast on the patio at Moonshiners
What fun it was to be together. We talked and laughed as the years melted away and we shared story after story of all that’s happened since our girls’ high school days. It took no effort at all to just let go and be joyfully pulled into the sweet gravitational orbit of each other’s lives once again.
LORDY IT WAS FUN. So much fun, in fact, I’m thinking of making this a seasonal practice in my life. A celebration, if you will. With each change from Fall to Winter to Spring to Summer, I’m going to reach out to a distant friend and plan a Let’s catch up event. Happy hour, lunch, dinner or just an it’s been too long what are you up to these days phone call. The last weekend of August reminded me life passes too quickly–and friendships are too important–to let them simply slip away.
A Changing of the Seasons Celebration.
This is a good idea.
XXOO
30 Days of Fun
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It was a good time. And the mark of good friends is that when we do get together, it’s as though we’ve never been apart. A new tradition. This is a good thing, indeed.
Yes! Pool party is next!
Lovely! Your friendship means so much to me. Eliza is precious! You are and have always been a blessing in my life. Thank you!
You are the blessing. Thank you, Ree!