But I'm totally rocking the whole Instagram thing. Well, in MY mind, I'm rocking it. And by 'rocking it', I mean I'm posting more than once a week.
And Instagram is such a responsive platform. I'll post something and within seconds, total strangers are liking my photos. Such a boost to my fragile self esteem.
Whatever.
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THE MOON! Have you not been totally mesmorized by it these past few nights? Especially when it first comes out, and it's over the horizon and it's big as my butt? OH my goodness, it's spellbinding.
On Friday night, after visiting a friend in the hospital, I drove out to the lake. I got onto the freeway just as the moon was cresting and I felt like I was in a movie with this great big moon-planet looming over us, like in Star Wars or something.
And I felt this kinship with everyone on the freeway heading east on Friday night. We are were driving towards the same Great Big Moon that was right in our face. We couldn't miss it. And I wondered what everyone was thinking because you Could Not Ignore It. Did anyone else have a God-moment? It was like He was showing off x 1000. Like, HEY YOU. LOOK WHAT I MADE! ISN'T IT MAGNIFICENT? I PUT IT HERE FOR YOU. I THOUGHT THE NIGHT SKY COULD USE A LIGHT. GOOD IDEA EH?
God just felt so real and so close. So I chatted with Him the whole way to Chilliwack. Out loud. Like He was sitting in the passenger seat on top of my backpack.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The site LinkedIn keeps asking me if I know my ex. Haha.
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This ^ was written on Sat Aug 20.
Now it's Thurs Aug 25 at 1 am
And I'm thinking about Tuesday night.
It was a friend's 57th birthday. Or maybe her 58th. I can't remember.
I had been out viewing houses and she said, "If you get home before 9:30, send me a text. Let's go for a Poke' walk."
As it happened, I was ready by 8:30, (because, ugh) so I drove over to her place, prepared to walk around the hood with her. But she came out of her garage with a purse.
"Can we go to the Fort?" she asked. "More action there..."
So I cleaned out the passenger front seat and dumped it all in the back seat with all the crap I'd moved forward from 'way back' earlier in the week.
My truck is a suitcase on wheels. Everything I need as I go back and forth between Surrey, Vancouver, Langley and Cultus is in there. In a big pile. In the back seat.
We drove over to Fort Langley and parked at the museum, where there's a tri Poke Stop and someone had thrown out a lure, so there was a party going on.
We sat there, in my truck, with the roof open, our seats pushed back, and talked Pokemon strategy, legalization of marijuana, arthritis, extended family, jobs, kids... and then our half hour was up and the party ended. Looking closely at our screens, I noted that there was another party at the tri Poke stop at The Fort, which was half a block away.
"There'a a party there? Let's GO!"
So like 18 year old frat boys looking for trouble on a Friday night, we drove up a block, parked in such a way that we were between all three Stops, and carried on with our conversation.
For two hours, this continued.
At one point I accidently was using her phone, and whilst it was in my care, two of her eggs hatched and in honor of her birthday, I was pleased to let her know, she now had a PICACHU and a SQUIRTLE in her Poke'dex.
I know, right?
AmaZING.
The reason I'm thinking about this now, is not because we are bosses at catching Poke'mon and I'm all braggy about that.
But rather, I'm thinking about how, lucky, how very, very lucky I am, that I have these easy, meandering, meaningful, random friendships that make my life so sweet.
Last night it was sitting in my truck chasing down Poke parties, but two Sundays ago, I was with another friend, and we sat together for 8 hours in a dust bowl, and just chilled (well, sweated, is more accurate) while we waited for bands. Or the times I go to the lake with reading friends, or writing friends, and we share space, while doing our own thing and it's so relaxed and I never know if we'll end up talking about anything or everything or nothing.
Maybe it's the whole "no expectations" thing.
Just 'being' in the company of awesome people and seeing where the hours take us ...
That? Is just cool.
I remember one late Spring evening, back in 1972, (grade 7?) when I was caught up in an elementary school friendship drama, wherein my friend, Tina, was being wooed into a bestyfriendythingy with Loretta.
Three is not a good number, and I was left out in the cold and unsure what I'd did to get there, and what I was supposed to do to fix it back like it was before. I was never good at this; up until that point, I have no memory of having a best friend. So I was flubbergasted.
I don't know how it came to pass that she came over, (did I invite her? Did she pop in? Was she there to neck with my brother?) I can't remember, but I do recall, sitting on lawn chairs in the middle of the driveway, looking up at the moon and starts, and just talking. We didn't talk about being friends, or about Loretta, or about The Drama. We just talked.
And then next day Tina wrote Loretta a note. And someone grabbed it from Loretta after she'd read it, and passed it to me. I think I memorized every word. (Wasn't hard, Tina wasn't much of a writer.)
"Dear Loretta. I was with Jane last night and we rode her motorcycle (I had a dirt bike in those days; we lived on the farm)and it was fun. Then we ran out of gas so we walked to Hadfields with a can and got it filled and it was fun. Then we bought some candy and walked back and rode some more and then we sat and talked and it was fun and I like Jane and still want to be her friend."
Hahaha.
That was my introduction to the World Of Girlfriends which I never explored fully because about ten minutes after Tina and I watched the stars, I ended up somehow being in grade 9 in a Science class with a cute guy who turned my world upside down. A few times. Haha.
In '98 when I was newly single again, (like I had any skill at being single the first time, when I was 14), God brought me a friend. Mark left our home on the Wednesday before Christmas, and 4 days later on Sunday, a new family showed up at church, with 3 boys the same age as mine, give or take 7 years. And their mom? Had prayed earlier in the week, "God? I'm not sure how involved I can be at this new church? I'm pretty tapped out for energy and time. But I could be someone's friend. If there's someone who needs a friend, I could do that."
ME. It was ME that needed a friend. Haha. I needed someone to remind me (well show me, actually) that it's fun to walk and sit and talk and eat and dream and, and just hang out with.
ALL of this to say, I'm still learning how this friendship thing works.
I sensing that friends were God's idea in the first place. And He takes delight in matchmaking besties.
And it's been my experience that you're never too old to make new friends. (That's tweetable.)
ANYWAY, I read this post today and I liked it. So I'm sharing it here.
The writer is younger than me, so her references aren't applicable to my situation (I've gone past the point of my kids needing me to wipe their bums and skidded into that place where my dad did.) But it's still a great article:
"My friendships have become more complicated in this phase of life. Life is bigger, it isn’t just cocktails and history finals and finding out what happens next on the Bachelorette (I mean it is still a little bit about that). But mostly, our lives are filled with scarier things like aging parents, impending teenagers, and the awful reality that we have to make dinner every single night.
And we forgive — because we love each other and know what a shitshow this time in our life can be."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I used this:
To do this:
"Do whatever it takes to remember that you’re a child of God, friends. Paint it above your door, tie it to your wrists, stamp it on your forehead: I AM A CHILD OF GOD."
I'm having a rough week, and my faith/trust tank is running low. I can feel a measure of fear seeping in, and I don't like it.
So this article came just when I needed it, and I've got a green blob on the inside of my wrist.
I am His. I need to quit worrying already.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Whoa.
This post has taken a week to write and it is a mess of gargantuan proportions. I jumped from here to there and back again. Whiplash much?
Three things I'm thankful for:
1. My job. My kids. My friends.
2. This living situation I've been blessed with for the past 3 years.
3. Summer evenings where it's warm til midnight and I can sit outside in my pajamas and blog or chat or make lists or pray.
Shalom,
xo
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