Friendship

It has been a long time since I had anything to say, apparently. I didn't realize how much time had passed since the "thinmint" episode but it has been a lot. Several things have happened that probably deserve a blog, but today I want to write about friends.

We are all used to a routine and as we grow in responsibilities there is less and less room for our friends. There are certain people that you see just because their circles intersect with yours, and others that you go months or even years without running into. At some point these friends may have had a circle that coincided with yours, and now you have just moved forward.

I find myself being unsuccessful with pursuing those whom I have no occasion to run into. It can be sort of difficult because of schedules or locations but for whatever reason I just don't get around to pursuing them in the ways that I would like to. The wonderful thing however, that keeps me from feeling terrible about this lack on my part, is that because of the time I did share with different individuals, we have a bond, and even if it is not nurtured daily, we have the memory of the time when it was. It makes all friends, current and past and future valuable for the different places they occupy in my life.

This past weekend I got a package in the mail, and it was one of the most beautiful gifts I have ever opened. It was a jar, filled to the brim, with pennies. Hand painted on the outside were the words, "thoughts of you". What a gift to share with someone you love- that even if you do not tell them or speak to or see them regularly, that they are always close to your heart.

Friendship of this caliber is such a valuable reminder to me that I have been fortunate in my life to find amazing individuals. Even if they are far from me now, we share the common experience of having learned to know and love one another.

Some Days You Need a Thinmint

Girl scout cookies- I would like there to be a time when the sale of these wonderful things may actually be a nationally recognized week to celebrate, on par with some of the other weeks- National Boss Week, National Step-Grandparents Week, National Luncheon Meat Awareness Week. However, unlike some, these cookies really are something to have a week for. I am not lobbying for another nonsensical holiday, per say, but the truth is, if you don't have a "contact" that knows the inner workings of the marketing time, you are at the mercy of your community to remind you. And, who wants to miss out on Thinmints?? or Samoa's for that matter? Certainly not me.

This year I wanted to be loyal to the lovely family that delivered (late) my huge order of cookies. I am not usually an advocate of buying 10 boxes of cookies, but they DO have to last the whole year. So, I waited. And waited. And waited. No one came to my door, and no one asked me to buy. Are these cookies so well known now that we must seek them out? Apparently so. Since no one came, I did not order. And, for the last month I have really really wanted a Thinmint. Sadly, I passed by the one display I did see in favor of the non-existent order that I thought was coming. I gave up and tried to come to terms with the fact that this was going to be a year without the special addition of Girl scout cookies.

As I was driving to the beach this weekend I briefly felt a sense of renewed hope. A minivan beside me had painted on the back in huge letters: "I HAVE COOKIES" with an arrow pointing down. On the side it said, "LAST CHANCE GIRL SCOUT COOKIES". I did what any desperate person does as they are taking a road trip and are 4 hours away from home, I rolled down the window and gestured wildly at the people in the van. My roommate took the initiative when they rolled down their window and said, "We want cookies!!" The man driving smiled and said, "what kind?" We were grabbed with panic. Did we even have cash to purchase these lovelies on us? Would they take a check? What would we ask for? She took the initiative again and said, "Thin mints!" Ahhh, the best cookie of them all. Guess what he said?

Yes, that is right. He said what you would expect :( "They are all gone."

Oh well, at least we tried. Thank goodness Edie's Ice Cream is now carrying the seasonal ice cream for the magical National Girl Scout Cookie Awareness Week- Thinmint, Samoa and Tagalong.

What Do You Do with a Kangaroo?

I love to read. Growing up this title was one of my favorite books. From an early age my mother did the thing that nurtured a child's imagination like nothing else. She took me to the library. Every week we had loads of books and we knew the librarians by name, they were our friends. Going to the library was not just about going to see them, or getting new books, it was a trip into the land of imagination and fantasy. Mom would study the illustrators and track their new books, the pictures being just as important as the stories for transporting us into different places. I learned how to solve problems, how to think about things from different points of view, how to empathize with people that had challenges that I knew nothing about. Even though she is gone now, the love of reading that she gave me remains, and to this day I find little that compares with the exhilaration and contentment of curling up and reading a new book.

All of this is a preamble to one thing that has been on my mind of late. How do you solve the problem of watching things move forward in someone's life that you love while yours goes in the opposite direction? I know there must be at least one story I read that helped me learn this lesson, but right now I am at a loss for which it was. I think all of us who know this issue are struggling. Happy with our own direction but bereft when we think of those we love moving into another one. Losing my husband was a different lesson- it was one in how to handle being a single entity when I had been operating as a double. This is not the same kind of thing- it is more like how to operate with a whole part of those who make up your family identity, absent, and at the same time- finding joy in it. The first thing (loss) is easy in that regard. No one expects you to be happy about it. You are given freedom to be sad and even angry. The second issue is open. I know my sis is glad to allow feelings of sadness, but I want to be happy. I do not want to mourn her leaving! I want to rejoice at this new and wonderful place that she is moving into. So, I can't find the answer in "What Do You Do with a Kangaroo". But if anyone can think of a good solution- I would love to hear it.