Month: March 2015

Of Fire and Clay

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Pottery has been around for centuries and the techniques have been used by a variety of people from poor farmers to Egyptian Pharaohs. Because it abundant and readily available, clay was cheap. The need for pottery was as vast as the type of people who used it. Farmers could use simple pottery to hold grain while Pharaohs used elaborate pottery to hold sacred items for burial. In almost every culture, pottery was an easy way to create a piece of art. The process of creating a piece of pottery leaves the unformed glob of clay unrecognizable by the end of the refining process. To get the unshaped clay to a useful or artistic piece, it is molded by the potter’s hands, shaped into the desired form, and placed into the kiln to harden. Firing the clay is an important step so it can be strong enough to fulfill its desired purpose. Everything from the season’s yield to the treasures of an ancient culture would be held in pottery and the pieces had to be strong enough to withstand fracture and prevent it from losing its contents. The more artistic pieces were especially desired to withstand the tests of time and were often heated at higher temperatures. Not all types of clay can withstand the higher temperature so only special types of clay were used. This special clay creates the beautiful, extremely durable porcelain. It is unimaginable to think that clay consists of no more than a few natural elements.  According to dictionary.com, clay is partially defined as the following:

1. a natural earthly material that is plastic when wet, consisting essentially of hydrated silicates of aluminum: used for making bricks, pottery, etc.

2. earth, mud.

4. the human body, especially distinguished from the spirit or soul; the flesh

The body being defined as clay? In the simplest definition, the human body is made up of a handful of elements, mostly consisting of water. Humans and clay are essentially made of the same basic elements. Unlike the human body, water is added to clay to form what is desired by the potter’s hands. Without the work of the potter, the clay would remain with the earth. The body, being defined as that of clay, could also be seen in this simple context, from the earth, to the earth. Let there be no mistake, the human body is more complex than a jar of clay, but like clay, it can be shaped to hold the greatest treasures and has the potential to become a beautiful piece of art.

It isn’t uncommon to see people turning their bodies into their own versions of art. Tattoos are less the taboo that they once were. Adorning the body with pieces of art through tattooing takes time and can be painful. To the person desiring the tattoo, the expression of the work is usually well worth the pain of getting it. It has also been widely acceptable in America to have piercings. The brief moment of pain and subsequent care after the piercing is worth the look achieved. In both examples, the outcome of the initial pain was known and a decision was made to endure pain and/or the care involved. Such a process would be less desirable if the outcome was unknown and the only information given was a promise of beauty. That would take a great deal of trust and not being assured of the end result could cause anxiety and less of a tolerance of pain. Ask anyone who paid for a tattoo that ended up looking more like the doodling of a two year-old or the small percentage that got an infection from a piecing. Instead of beauty, they received a problem. Decisions such as these would be simpler to make if there was foreknowledge of the result. Since there is no way to know how the experience will end, asking questions can help make the best decision. If clay could ask questions or talk, what would it say to the potter?  It certainty would want to know what the potter intended for it, but what else?

“You want to make me a water pot? No thanks, I’m too good for water.”

“There is no way you are throwing me into that fire!”

“I’d prefer if you didn’t paint me blue.”

Fortunately for history, clay made no such demands or statements. Human ancestors molded and fired the clay to serve a purpose and clay is still serving a purpose today. Finding a purpose for the human existence is vastly different than that of clay but it can help define a purpose. Both start out as a shape unrecognizable to the finished result. Humans at some point in the womb resemble a tadpole more than a human but with time, develop all the necessary components. Witnessing a heartbeat via ultrasound when the baby is no more than a few weeks gestation is no less than astonishing. A heart that will beat thousands upon thousands of times in a lifetime begins so miniscule inside a mother’s womb.  In the womb is where the molding process begins. First with the physical form and then as the child grows, the internal. Parents nurture and protect children and try to shape them into responsible and respectable adults. Parents nurture the aspects of a child’s life to help him or her understand the world and prepare for the fire that will eventually come. And this shaping by fire never ends. Into adulthood the experiences shape existence, while still relying on the early work of the parents. All with the hope the now adult can navigate the world alone. Unlike the clay, humans can ask questions on what they will become.

“Why am I here?”

“Why has this tragedy happened to me?

“Am I strong enough to endure?”

Also unlike the clay, life is shaped over a long period of time and the fire doesn’t come all at once. Sometimes the fire is hot enough to harden only the outside and protect what is within and other times, the heat is so intense that it hardens on the inside and out. The true works of art are those formed with the most intense heat, whose flames are not meant for every piece of clay. Those special pieces are chosen carefully and will have lasting strength and beauty. Because the end result of these rare pieces is beauty beyond compare, it takes time and trust in the process. These rare works of art can hold the most valuable possessions and stand the test of time. No, money cannot buy an average piece the result meant for the rare and it’s not worth the value gained by experience. A plain pot can be painted, decorated and made to resemble what intense fire has fused but it cannot have equal strength.

Are you the rare pot? Have you been asked to carry the heavy burdens? Because the heat is so intense, the process for the rare pot is painful and there is no knowledge of why and how the fire will result in beauty. Often times questions have to remain unanswered and trust wears thin but like the rare pot, the experience in the hottest fire yields invaluable experience. Each time the rare pot is exposed to the next round of heat, the harder it gets and the value of the treasures entrusted grows. What gem has been entrusted to you? Maybe it is the most delicate that must be placed in the strongest of places. If you are asked to endure the intense flames, your beauty will only shine more brightly every time you endure. Unlike the common, this beauty isn’t by choice and can only be seen at the surface but has been shaped and formed changing the very elements of your life. Don’t get discouraged you rare and beautiful piece, welcome the fire, for each flame brings you closer to unmatched beauty.

*d*

Image found via search engine and credited to http://www.pinterest.com

The Easter Approach

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Everyone has had rumors spread about them. These childish antics usually take place in high school, but unfortunately gossip is a nasty habit that carries well into adulthood. Rumors about me have labeled me weak, immature, inconsiderate, unappreciative, a snob, and much more. I urge you not to believe any of it, not because I haven’t been all of those things and more but because I have been forgiven for sometimes being exactly that. Easter is in six days and regardless of your religious affiliation, or not, one of the oldest stories ever told can have meaning for you.

As the familiar story of Christmas reminds us, Christians believe that God came to Earth and took human form. In one the many mysteries of the faith, He became fully man and fully God. He was also God, Son, and Holy Spirit in perfect unison, the Holy Trinity. Jesus fulfilled prophecy during His lifetime and did so to the end, suffering a horrific death. As God, He knew this was going to happen and as man, He pleaded for the suffering to pass from Him. As man, He suffered more than any human would ever endure. He was beaten, crucified, and bore the sins of the entire human existence for all time. As God He chose forgiveness instead of vengeance choosing to utter the words, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do,” in one of His last breaths. I know, this is sounding like a sermon but we need to be reminded that the Christian message is and needs to remain about forgiveness and sacrificial love as demonstrated in the Easter story. Often times we want to run our own agendas and forget the Easter message the other 364 days of the year. Christ did not say in His last breath, “forgive everyone except (insert name here)”. He made no exemptions and washed it all away. ALL of it. He took those moments when I was weak, narrow-minded, unforgiving, and sometimes ungrateful and forgave me, all I had to do was ask. I am comforted by this story because it can speak to everyone. True love is looking past all those imperfections and seeing others for who they truly are and what they desire to be. Unlike those truths and rumors about me, He knows me well enough to know the desires of my heart and gives me those desires even when I am unworthy because He loves me.

Yes, I believe in God who chose to live a meager existence, even in death by humbling Himself as man and accepting a fate that would result in Him ridiculed, beaten, and hanging helplessly to a cross. He accepted what He was given even when He could see exactly what it meant, even when He had the power to stop it. You don’t have to be a Christian to appreciate a man who lived no more than a meager existence, that accepted a sentence He did not deserve, because He loved humanity so much. We all have been given sentences we don’t deserve. I know I have but I choose to follow His example and accept it all the way to the end, even if it means to death because someone did that for me. I am also going keep trying to freely forgive others, and even myself, when I have been hurt because He offered forgiveness to the very people who chose to nail him to a piece of wood.

So I ask you to stop listening to rumors about me, each other, and Christ and see humanity and faith for what it really is; humbling, forgiving and life changing. It’s about time we stop looking at those bruises and scars we all bare and see us how we were seen over two thousand years ago, a beautiful work of creation deserving of the greatest forgiveness and love. The next time you don’t think someone, including yourself, is worth a kind word, or even forgiveness, there is a God who placed extraordinary value on each person, so much so He died to prove His love.

*d*

Unfinished

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It has been nearly six months since my maternal grandfather passed away. It has taken this long for me to process the shock of his death. The grieving process is long for me because it takes me a long time to grasp the reality of a death. In the past six years I have adapted to my son’s diagnosis by detaching myself from emotions when terrible events occur, including death. I guess it is a type of defense mechanism for me. I put my head down, push forward and deal with the emotional consequences later. When my emotions finally catch up with me, it takes me a while to recoup. Several events this month have me thinking about death.

People don’t like to talk about death. It’s scary. Death is a good reason I cling so hard to my faith. I believe in something that gives purpose to all things, even something as deviating as death but it’s still difficult to handle. As much as I believe it to be a natural part of life, there is no perfect way to grieve. It took two years after my uncle’s death for the reality of it to set in and I am now feeling it six months after my grandfather’s passing. It usually takes something to set off the chain reaction of grief in me. This time it was taking my grandmother to run errands. I drove her van (something my grandfather only did) and upon pulling out of the garage, I noticed my grandfather’s neatly organized garage. He had just started to put all of his nuts and bolts in little jars. He had hung several items on the wall for easy access and neatly arranged all of his tools on the shelf. He and my grandmother sold their home in Florida and moved everything back here last spring. My grandfather was in the process of merging his dual collection of items when he passed away. My grandfather was meticulous, a trait in which I can relate. I love seeing how he took pride in what little he had by caring about how it was placed. As I sat in their van, I realized he would not be able to finish organizing his garage. It would remain unfinished. His life was finished but now he had unfinished work. My grandfather didn’t leave work unfinished. That is what death is good at, leaving life unfinished.

With everyone so readily connected to one another, death is something  we can’t sweep under the rug and ignore.  I checked in on a woman who has been posting updates about a friend of hers who had recently been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Her friend had been sedated and clinging to life. She ended up passing away. She is in her early fifties and has two grown children. She lost her fight with a sudden disease that robbed her of her life and possibly some meaningful final moments with her family. Recently I received a newsletter from the alliance associated with my son’s disease and it’s cover story was about a 17 year-old girl who just lost her fight with the same incurable disease. It is scary and humbling. Life surrounds us with death. If it isn’t before us, it is around us. Sometimes death is one of the strongest reminders to enjoy life.

Several weeks ago my son had a seizure that stopped his breathing. This is the first time this has happened. I became so worried that I began researching how to help finance a seizure monitor for his bed and I am trying to get him on a list to receive a new epilepsy wrist monitor coming out in the spring. The concern was there prior to this incident but this made me rehash all the fears I had when he was first diagnosed. I felt like I did before I learned how to build up a wall to guard my emotions. I once again feared that a seizure will take him from me while we slept or if he were to seize away from home, I wouldn’t be there if he were to cry for his mommy. These and many other fears could paralyze my life. Just like a preoccupation with death, it could control my living but these thoughts have done something profound. Facing the fear of death and the mortality of those I love has made me want to fulfill my life. Without having to look death in the face, I am certain I would not be so appreciative of life. At the end of the day, I don’t think about the housework I have to do or what I need to plan for supper the next day, I worry if I put my best effort into making today the best it can be for my family. I think about how I can try harder to better myself for my family with anticipation. I try to remind myself that no one is guaranteed a tomorrow so if I am fortunate enough to open my eyes in the morning, I need to make it count. If tomorrow didn’t come for me, what can I show for it besides a list of unfinished projects? My goal is to find a way to live with our hindrances and find a way to live beyond anticipation. Can I live in manner in which my kids will know I fought for happiness? Can I teach them to strive to do something everyday to make life count for something more? Or will I hand over my life and my son’s life to disease and hoist up the white flag until death? Despite what made-up fantasy has us believe, death is harsh and unbiased. It doesn’t care if my son hasn’t had a chance to experience life, if I have four children that need me, or if we need our best friend. In the end, life is a blur of memories. Choose to make those mirrors into the past count. Don’t wait until disease or death rattles you awake. Wake up and live now. Finish the projects that have meaning and appreciate the outcome. Unlike my grandfather’s unfinished garage, our lives don’t have invoke sadness. Those unfinished projects he left may never be finished since no one could finish them as he had planned but we can appreciate what he did accomplish. I can use what I have learned from him and put the finishing touches on my life, even if it is just for today. Everything is worth the meticulous work, even my unfinished self.

*d*

Childhood is Still Waiting

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Do you remember playing in the tub as a kid? The goal of a bath was not to get clean but to play until the skin on your feet and hands got wrinkly. Do you remember picking scabs, counting bruises, jumping off the couch, or on the bed? How about spending who knows how much time figuring out all the quirky little things our little bodies could do? This entailed sitting cross-legged with both feet on top of the thighs, trying to do a handstand or a somersault,  and climbing trees as high as possible until mom got nervous. I remember riding in the car hoping to see a mirage on the road, wishing we would drive over a large hill, and surfing the wind with my hand when the windows were down. It didn’t matter how much time was wasted swinging at the park, talking to friends, or playing basketball because there seemed to be an endless amount of time to grow up.

As an adult, time seems more limited and it’s hard picking a pointless task to spend our precious time pursuing. I find it hard to spend too much time playing make believe with my kids because there are piles of laundry waiting to be washed, dirty dishes in the sink, and dinner always needs to be made. It’s a shame because my kids will grow too fast and there is a quickly fading window of opportunity to have kid-fueled adventures.

Days after my son was diagnosed, I was crying to my mom on the phone. I told her that I felt like I would never be able to move forward and enjoy being a mom again. She gave me what seemed to be odd but simple advice. “Next time he takes a bath, put on your bathing suit and take it with him. Put a bunch of bubbles in the bath and play.” She gave no explanation and I wondered if she truly realized the magnitude of what I was telling her. How would this make my broken heart feel any better? I didn’t really want to do it but I knew my mom, she would make sure I did as she asked so that evening we drew him his bath and filled it full of bubbles. I put on an old pair of shorts and a tank top and sat with him in the tub. He was only three months old, so I sat him on my knee and put the bubbles on his little nose and in his hair. His older brother stood at the edge of the tub and played with the bubbles as well. My oldest thought the notion of mommy in the tub with her clothes on and covered in bubbles was too funny. I began to smile again. In the middle of the bubble filled tub, I was reminded that my newly diagnosed son was the same boy he was before we learned of his diagnosis. He needed all the things he had before, especially the best of his mommy.

The few minutes I spent acting like a kid didn’t solve our problems. There are days I fret and I have had many more tear-filled conversations with my mom. What it did do is remove me briefly from the fast-paced world of adulthood and remind me of why it is such a joy to have children. My kids are oblivious to the responsibilities of adulthood, as they should be, but I cannot be oblivious to their childhood. My children need me to be an adult but they also need me to understand what it’s like to be a child and for that, I sometimes need to act like a kid. I need to let the laundry, dishes, and dinner wait so I can let my kids, and myself know just how fun it is to be a kid.

So, if you are reading this post, here is my challenge to you: go be a kid. Do it. Blow bubbles, find a park and swing (make sure you lean back as far as you can on the way forward so it looks like your feet are touching the sky and say, “I’m flying!”), run up a slide, hop from one piece of living room furniture to the other pretending the floor is lava, color (on your stomach and on the floor), make a blanket fort, or draw yourself and bath with way too many bubbles. Yes, adulthood is about maturity but it doesn’t mean all the fun of childhood should be lost. You will be amazed what a few moments away from adulthood will do for you. Make time for moments you will look back on and smile. So, go ahead, take a moment, be a kid.

*d*

Three is a Crowd in the Legend of Me

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Everyone has a brood of exes and as my co-blogger has pointed out in her last post, running into one can be, well, interesting. I have three major exes in my life, one ex-boyfriend, one ex-fiancee, and an ex-husband. I have been fortunate to avoid all three for the last twelve plus years. Sure, there is Facebook with the occasional photo but that is a picnic compared to the awkward confrontation. Fortunately my ex fiancée (I will call him Penny Roller) moved out of town and then out of state, my other two exes are still local but I moved away for ten years, thus making a run-in very unlikely. I have since moved closer to my hometown so running into my ex-boyfriend (we will call him Duff) and ex-husband (Holes) a real possibility.

I don’t look forward to the awkward day I am face to face with my past so I hope it never happens. Running into Duff wouldn’t be so terrible. Despite my memories of his rather mopey mug, he was a nice guy and I worked with his wife after high school and I really like her. After sixteen years, I wouldn’t know what to say to him. The last conversation he and I had, we were high school freshman. Penny Roller would be an interesting encounter. We got engaged in high school and he abruptly ended our relationship. I found my own type of closure but there is too much in our past that would be hard to avoid. There are more humorous moments in our shared past as his nickname implies. He dropped out of high school and joined the army while we were together but between these adventures, he worked sporadically. I remember him rolling loose change to afford to put gas in his noisier than necessary truck to “go mudding” (yes, driving your big ol’ truck in an overabundance of mud is a thing in our state) or buy cigarettes. What I boiled down to was a literal notch in his headboard (he had quite a few). The dreaded meeting would be with my ex-husband, Holes. The darker details to this relationship are spelled out in one of my previous posts. He was the man who had obvious red flags that I somehow ignored. I married him out of guilt and fear of hurting his feelings. I ignored the moldy dishes that were rotting in his sink, the odd collection of figurines (earning him the more humorous nickname Senior Nutcracker), and obvious self-centered behavior. I didn’t want to be another disappointment in his life so I chose to turn a cheek to his lack of interest in aesthetics. Holes had a regular rotation of holey clothes and stories by the time I walked out the door. I know how he is and I anticipate an encounter would entail him telling me how terrible of a person I am.

My trio of exes are a string of examples of my self-loathing behavior. I ended the relationship with my ex-boyfriend after we dated a good portion of my freshman year. Things got awkward with Duff when we stopped socializing with friends and I began to feel like I was married at 15. I left him and began dating Penny Roller. I was taken with him, so much so that I often thought of him long after I married Holes. Penny Roller was one of the many reasons I ran away and right to Holes. I had little confidence in myself and thought I needed to settle for the dependable Holes over the Penny Roller’s antics. I didn’t give myself a chance to swoon over other boys (aside from my life long obsession with Wesley from The Princess Bride), but I did have my share of dates between the three. My legend was just a fable, tucked quietly away in the corner of my mind.

It took a few hundred half-witted smiles, several empty boxes of cigarettes, and a shelf load of odd knick-nacks later to finally break free of my trio and meet my legend. I am still amazed by him today. The day may come when I encounter one or all three of the ghosts from my past but despite what happened, I am finally confident in the decisions I have made. I know a chance encounter will no longer bubble up lingering feelings because I know I am exactly where I am meant to be. What memories I choose to hold on are the ones I can laugh at and others that solidify the best decision I ever made.

*d*

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Wesley: “As you wish.”
Me: “Giggle, giggle.”

Distorted Legends

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Last week, I had probably the weirdest reunion since the time when I found myself unwittingly participating in an awkward situation in-the-making at an after-bar party thrown by a third-tier friend and his roommate. I didn’t find out until I got in the door that the roommate everyone had been referring to as Bill (not his name, but you’ll get the point) was actually the guy I’d lost my virginity to and dated for a year and eight months as a fifteen to sixteen-year-old. I’d known him as William (again, not his name, but you see what I mean). I’d dumped him over the phone in a screaming rage when I found out about a series of lies he’d been telling me for our entire relationship. If the fact that he lied to me doesn’t make my method seem any less harsh, this was also the previously mentioned boyfriend in Filling In The Blank with the slicked back hair, tiny pony tail, and an uncle in the Chicago Mafia. See, he totally deserved it. Oddly enough, the last time I’d seen him was when he started hanging out with an ex of mine that I was still semi-friends with. The Jenga Game of guys doesn’t end there. I went to said Ex’s apartment with my Current Boyfriend to give him some of Current Boyfriend’s ugly old furniture. Tiny Ponytail was there, much to my shock. It turns out that things I had revealed to Ex Boyfriend were not kept confidential due to our semi-friend status and Tiny Ponytail knew about some things I didn’t want him to know about. Let’s just say, we both had reasons to break up with each other. He wasn’t necessarily mad, but he definitely wanted me to know that he knew.

You can imagine the awkwardness of being in his apartment and seeing him again after somewhere around seven years. Well, it actually turned out okay because we said hello and acknowledged how weird the situation was. It’s a good example of how time heals wounds. We’re definitely not besties, but anytime I see him, I say hello with a smile and he does the same. But, I digress.

My point is, I had another similar experience while out to eat with my mom at the local buffet. We were seated in a remote corner (just where I like to be) when this guy and his wife were seated a booth behind my mom. I’d had a huge crush on the guy when I was a tween and teenager when he’d been our neighbor. Captain Crush had always known it, too, and liked to tease me relentlessly. Ever since he’d gotten married, he’d been very leery of making eye contact with me when we ran into each other, let alone small talk. I’ve always sensed a tight leash was present, though I’ve no proof of that. I signaled to Mom that he was behind us and she turned around and said hello and I waved and it was all rainbows and unicorns. His wife even smiled at us. Then things got exponentially weirder.

While at the buffet, I looked through the steamed-up sneeze guard and saw the guy who first kissed me when I was thirteen. He was eighteen at the time. In hindsight, that probably was more disturbing than I found it when it happened. That first kiss ignited an infatuation that had been kindling for the previous two years. I was a giddy mess anytime I was around him and my friends and I mooned over him like he was Mark-Paul Gosselaar or Scott Baio (What? Am I the only one who thought Charles in Charge was a hottie?) First Kiss had long hair and was about six-three. I thought he was so smart and wise and the best kisser I’d ever…well, he was the only kisser I knew of at the time. He made me so nervous I would shake sometimes.

I would say that seeing him through the glass gave me that same giddy trembling, but honestly, I’d traded that in for a strong distaste for him. I’d seen First Kiss over the years and he’d always been hopeful that something would happen between us that was beyond friendship. Unfortunately for him, as I was nearing the end of my teen years, I was also realizing that his status as legend in my mind was fading. So, over the last twenty years when I’ve been around him, I’ve seen the truth. Where I’d once seen intelligence and wisdom, I now saw pretentiousness. His long hair was long gone and his height was no longer attractive as he’d stand before me, smoking cigs and pontificating about life. Another gem I unearthed during the last time I’d associated with him was that he had nearly no boundaries. He started calling me at work asking me to bring him cigarettes. When I got a new job in a customer service call center, First Kiss called there and when I wouldn’t answer my desk phone, he had them page me so he could talk about pretty much nothing. I was afraid his nonsense was going to cost me my job. I told my mom about it and she called him up and told him to stay away from me. And that was the end of our contact until I ran into him at a bar one night about three years later. I tried to talk to him but conversing with someone so egocentric is difficult at best. I cut my night short just to get away from him.

Then, there he was at the buffet. I managed to dodge him and scurried back toward my table. I stopped at the booth where Captain Crush sat and said through gritted teeth, “First Kiss is here!”

Captain Crush busted out laughing and said his wife had just pointed that out!

As I sat down with Mom, I realized that First Kiss was actually sitting directly behind Captain Crush, facing me. I tried hard to keep mom’s head between him and me.

You might wonder how all of this is related. Or maybe not. But I’m going to tell you anyway.
First Kiss and Captain Crush were good friends in high school. Our neighbor, C. Crush, brought First Kiss around when they were sixteen. They liked flirting with my mom because she’d been a nude model and was a bizarre type of local celebrity for appearing in a girly magazine. I was smitten with both boys. For all of us to be seated in the same fifty square feet, after all those years, was a little Twilight Zonish for me.

What was truly unsettling was when we finally decided to reveal our presence to First Kiss. He came over and began the most awkward conversation I’ve had in quite some time. Maybe ever. If uncomfortableness was measured in plates of food, then I had eaten every last thing on that buffet. I won’t go into what he said because that’s not important. It’s the realization that matters. I’ve known for a long time that he wasn’t the guy I imagined him to be as a thirteen-year-old. It’s incredible though, just how far he’d fallen from that pedestal. And it isn’t just my perception of him that tumbled. It’s very much a reality. He’s like so many teen heartthrobs who fall out of favor, start spiraling downward, dabble in drugs and alcohol, suffer from poor physical health, poor mental health, and have no friends. I felt bad for him, even as I wanted to get up and leave. Quickly.
It wasn’t just him either. Captain Crush packed on the pounds and though he still has a baby face, it’s that of a much hairier, much fatter baby.

I know for a fact that Mom is no longer the stuff teen boys shut themselves in the bathroom for and that I fell off my own pedestal a long time ago. I’m pretty sure the thing is actually on top of me, I’m so far removed from the heights of young, thin and busty. It happens to everybody eventually. Youth is one of those things you never fully appreciate while you have it. You spend the rest of your life remembering it, sometimes grabbing at it, but almost always realizing you’re better off now than living amongst a bunch of distorted legends.

Wasn't he dreamy?
Wasn’t he dreamy?

~L~

A Friend for Every Season

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Winter is finally winding down and so begins preparations for spring. Since becoming a mom, spring cleaning means a little more than just cleaning house. I also have to spend a few hours putting back winter coats, gloves, hats, sweaters, etc. and dig out the spring jackets, short-sleeve shirts, and outside play toys. There are always old things to put away until next winter and others to be discarded as they have filled their use. I go to the store and buy new packs of bubbles and chalk. I also pull out favorite bouncy balls and bikes. There are so many things to do at the start of a new season.

Spring time is also a time when people start buying cars and looking at houses. In the three plus years we were trying to sell our home, my husband and I knew we had to wait until spring to see a fresh batch of homes hit the real estate market. There is something about being able to open up a window and let the outside come in after being shut off for so long that makes so many people ready to take on something more. Sometimes the fresh feeling of the new season can make a person make poor choices. For example, nice weather seems to bring out the worst drivers. Wait until the first sunny, fifty degree day ahead. The nutty people will be out cutting people off and driving like they just got their licenses (Yes, I have an issue with irrational drivers). Sometimes the spring fever hits and people go out and buy a new car because, hey, it’s spring. When winter comes around, they will realize it was a poor purchase. I admit, I have been there before. When life feels new and energetic, there are chances to be taken and adventures to be had and the consequences of which can be dealt with later. When the cold once again arrives, it is time to think of stocking up, being reliable, and preparing for the worst. There are always adjustments to be made and changes to be seen in every season, even with friends.

The older I get, the harder it is to keep in contact with those dear friends I had grown up with. Now over fifteen years have passed and I barely have a handful of those friends. I now have what seems to be a supply of seasonal friends. These friends are not always around but come out when the seasons of my life demand and they are not always meant to stay. Even those old friends I regret spending seldom time with are sometimes only meant to be in the early season of life. We all need a friend for the changing seasons of our lives. We all change and grow and are provided with just the right person to help us forge ahead. At a hard time in life, we may need that reckless and crazy friend that will do almost anything to put a smile on our face. Sometimes we need the irrational driver to jump in the front seat with us to test our boundaries and dare us to go just a little further. Yet another friend can be there to clean up and sort for the next season of life when a big change has happened. Most of the time, friends seem like those favorite bouncy balls my kids ask me to take out in the spring. They bounce in and out of life but are always so much fun when they come around. Every once in a while, a friend no longer fits in the natural rotation of life and we have to separate but there is always another on the horizon.

I have struggled with my own inability to make friends easily and I am often saddened by the sparse group I have left. I have cried and wondered how I needed to change in order to feel close to more people. The older I get, the more I realize the quantity does not matter. Who and when is what matters. Life has a good way of providing just what we need right when we need it, although we may have to look a bit harder. Those old friends may not be around today, but they were there when we needed them. Those bouncy ball friends, they are awesome to have when we need a fresh breath of air, and those steady friends, they are the best of all. The ones who are around for every season, no matter how many, are the ones truly worthwhile.

*d*

Silhouetted in the Background

~ crossroadtrippers ~ 1 Comment

I wrote a coming-of-age novel about guy and a girl who become best friends in elementary school but are ripped apart in high school by their very different personalities, outlooks, and plans for the future. Losing friends from your childhood is a normal, albeit sad, part of growing up. There’s a lot of gut wrenching scenes where they cut each other down while trying to protect their own feelings. It’s these fights that help drive the two characters apart.

It turns out, when you’re in your thirties, friends slip quietly away. There isn’t usually screaming or even scowls because it happens as subtly as time flying by, and everyone is so exhausted by life that even if they notice, they don’t speak up to stop it. There are children, spouses, jobs, and life in general that seems to drown out so much of what used to be in the forefront.

I’m mindlessly surfing Facebook and see my pal—we’ll call her Trixie—posted pictures of her kids. It reminds me that I haven’t seen Trixie in weeks, no wait, months. Someone I assumed I would always be close to now feels almost like a stranger. Almost.

If it weren’t for those tidbits of conversation, the random hilarious picture comments, the echoes of who we used to be, the thin threads tethering us to one another might finally snap. But it’s these moments that remind me that our friendship isn’t based on time spent or interactions had, but the fact that even after months, we could sit down and laugh like no time had passed at all. We’ll always have a connection, even if the ties finally break and we drift so far apart that not even an off-color joke over the internet can pull us back together.

hand-reaching-out1

I guess that’s also what happens in my novel. I wrote about something I thought happened to other people. Not us. Trixie and I were solid. But the truth is people fade in and out of your life for any number of reasons. It doesn’t lessen their impact on your heart or their image silhouetted in the background of your mind. We’re all who we are partly because of the people in our lives, past and present. We shape each other and leave our marks and most times, our time together is fleeting. The truly meaningful relationships in our lives can fade, but they’re still there, waiting for a chance encounter, a long over-due phone call, to come out of the background and back into focus.

~L~

Reply by *d*

I had started my last post before you posted this one and it was so similar, I had to finish it. It is strange how we could be thinking along the same lines. It is sad to drift from friends but as you said, there is always time to reconnect and remember those good times. I am grateful for all my friends also, no matter when they drift in or out of life.