Friends

I often wonder about some of the funny things in this life. For instance, what on Earth led me to be friends with some of the best people on the planet? I sometimes am in awe at some of the beautiful people who grace and enrich my life. God has absolutely blessed me in abundance with good friends. Equally I find it interesting how people who aren't yet close friends will move themselves to where they have me close to them. The human persona and psyche do continually fascinate me.

Some of my most favorite and talented friends keep my life far from dull.

Renee-chop, Sock Monkey & Mommie2Five keep me grounded and humble and make me laugh when I need it. They are the first ones to volunteer to stand up for me when I can't myself, beside me when I can and in front of me when I need to calm down. We have laughed together, cried together, hurt together, played together, loved together and prayed through some mess together. I love you girls so much for the friendships we get to have.

Mrs. South Carolina is the rarest and dare I say most needed type of friend. She shares her strength when I am at my lowest and will let me just be. Sure we can be so absorbed in one another that we take up all the space in the room but just as easily we can sit side by side for hours and never need to speak. There's a silent language spoken between us and that can be enough. You've seen me at one of my lowest and darkest hours and you loved me through it. I love your happy-go-lucky "bring it on" attitude.

The Commanders constantly entertain my life. Your humor and encouragement mean more than I say. The road trips, camp outs, holidays, video games, meals and crazy days have kept me on my toes. Your friendships are more like family and I selfishly don't ever want to be without them.

I absolutely cannot leave out the one person to whom I have given my heart. Your love overwhelms me and I do not deserve it. You have loved me when I was unlovable, walked with me through pain and sorrow, put me in check when I got too big for my own good and made me laugh at your dry humor. You're my Kleenex when I'm sad and my sunshine when I'm grey. Thank you for loving me and my crazy brain.

The Songstress & her Trouble-making husband bless my life with wonderful music and a wicked sense of humor. Some of the best practical jokes I've ever encountered-- both from a distance and as a recipient have come from you. I am blessed by your child-like faith and your profound wisdom more than I tell you, forgive me for not telling you more often. Thank you for your openness and your joy, it's contagious. Your humor keeps my heart light and happy, your perspective on things both funny and serious is a gift. Never feel inadequate.

The curmudgeonly "old" man with the sweetest wife ever is definitely someone who has helped enrich my life. From our initial uncertainty about ever beginning to be able to get along to the required, and ever missed, hugs each time we visit. My how far we have come! You have given me an outlet when I was frustrated and challenged me to be better at every turn. For this I am a better person than I used to be and the laughter we have shared around the dinner table is some of my favorite times.

And I would be hard pressed to forget the Ya-ya's! You girls are such a delight! You are the friends with whom there are no limits to our lives. We've spent some time laughing and some time crying, but we've had some incredible times of prayer and praise. We've decorated, re-decorated, hunted graves, yelled at sports, shopped, road-tripped and so much more. The memories are priceless and so vast that I am so glad to able to cherish them.

There are SO many more that I could list and the spice and flavor that you each bring to my life keeps me living life to it's fullest.

I truly have been blessed by some amazing people who love me and I in turn them. You provide me simple things through your unbelievable talents (Jewelers, Artists, Singers, Scrapbookers, Photographers, etc. You know who you are) and I never take them for granted but it is your depth of care and love for me and my life that I hold dearest. I hope each and every one of you knows how much I count it a privilege to call you friend.

Competitive nature

One thing I know very well about myself is that I have the tendency to have a competitive nature. I can turn nearly anything into a competition if I don't restrain myself. This was made evident as a child when I would lose games against opponents who were much older and more experienced at the game than I, and eventually this was channeled into wanting to play against the person who was just a little better so that I could improve. Nothing's changed really about these facts, I'm simply older and have a better grip on when I shouldn't be so competitive.

As an exercise in this, we have a softball team with work that began last year. It is in a recreational league and last season our record was 1-7. I had a very hard time with that because I'm used to playing on highly structured, championship teams but managed to check my competitive nature at the car door and have a good time on the field. It was fun to get to help people who had never played before learn how the game is played. We all had a blast and spent some good time together. Naturally when we were talking about having a team again this season, I signed up. We are 3 games in and looking to repeat our record from last season. Not really, but so far we're on that path. We play well when we get our focus on the game, but that's a challenge for us all. There are so many things happening in our lives and it is not always easy to keep our focus on what we are doing in the moment. 

So my dilemma becomes resisting the desire to tell people what I've heard from coaches all my life, "You don't practice, you don't play" and so on. It's a tricky balance really to want to be able to let your hair down and have a good time, and still be able to smile after a loss. No one can say they like to lose all the time, and I'm probably the poster child for it. But there is some truth in the coach's statement. If you don't practice how then can you expect to win? Albert Einstein said it best, " Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." 

Brrrrr...

Winter moved in this year with very minimal warning and made itself completely at home here in the South. I jotted some notes during January and part of February about it and in my absence from blogging, I'll share some of it with you.

It's gone beyond chilly or cold to full blown frigid. We've had some decent cold spells already this winter, but this latest weather fiasco takes the cake. Yesterday morning we awoke to cloudy skies and 52 degrees above freezing; this will be important later. By 7 o'clock in the evening it was below freezing and we had a half inch of snow on the ground. Absolutely amazing really. Today's high temperature was a whopping 10 degrees above zero but if we factor in the wind chill it felt like 10 degrees below zero. For many winters when it has been so cold I've said that this body was not made for cold. And it's true-- my knees ache incessantly thanks to old sports injuries; my hands, feet and lowest areas of my legs are very difficult to keep warm; I have Reynaud's Disease to give credit for that one. During the course of this week, the temperature here was colder than the temperature in Fairbanks, Alaska three days in a row! During a normal winter here when I find myself whining about the cold, I can ask my friend in Alaska what the weather is where she is and I'm instantly zapped back into proper perspective. This year, however, I find myself part time wishing I could trade with her.  But, I find myself adapting to this cold in ways I never imagined. The week after this particular week or temps below 20 degrees all week, I went out one morning with Uglymug and Lard about 6:00 a.m. It was early, I was groggy and really warm from sleeping and didn't think about a coat. Five minutes out and suddenly I'm wondering why my hands are cold. I came in and checked the weather and it was 34 degrees. I went to work that day with no coat because 34 degrees felt warm! It's slightly scary and highly unnerving--why would I, flip flop and sandal goddess come to tolerate cold? I have no idea at all, but it makes me giggle. I went out during the "warm" week for a shopping trip with flip flops on when the temp went above 50 degrees! Such has been our weather thus far this year. As much as I don't enjoy cold, I am hoping that it helps kill of a lot of the bugs :)