Your Wonderful Self

We were re-potting sixty-six fragile tiny tomato seedlings, working in tandem on the kitchen counter and falling easily into the chatter that is born of a friendship that started in typing class many years ago.  I'm not even sure that the typewriters were electric it has been so long ago.  Some details are just not worth the memory space they occupy, so I wipe those things out regularly and replace them with precious things like memories of the friend instead of the machines we used.

The quiet afternoon was an opportunity to catch up on our lives because we live busy lives far apart, full to overflowing with work and family.  It was natural that the chatter would turn to those things that consume our waking hours, to our own hopes and dreams some of which have come true and others which seem to elude us.  The conversation stayed with me for days, in fact it will probably linger with me always since it forms a friend memory.

That memory is of a wonderful woman, one of the many women I am privileged to share life with.  When I was young I moved a lot, not just houses but countries, in the days before cheap long distance rates and email.  I became very adept at getting to know people but there were few friends.  Over time life became more stable and somewhere along the way I must have learned a little bit about being a friend because today I find myself with a host of friends.  Intelligent, funny, challenging women who offer their love and support in a myriad of ways.

One of the things on my bucket list is to host a party at the swake in honour of all the strong, fabulous women who are in my life.  Many of you do not know one another, you know about each other but you come from such varied parts of my experience that your paths have never crossed.  Maybe one day soon, we'll have to have a 'Crossing Paths' party.  Although my friends are extremely different from one another you all demonstrate inherent strength and generous hearts.  It would be party to remember with all that in one place.

Until the party becomes a reality, here is to the women who have shared the treasure of their friendship with me.  You are strong, you care for your loved ones in illness. You are resilient, you pick up the pieces of devastating loss and move forward alone.  You are gracious, you love your children when they are hard to love.  You are brave in adversity.  You are beautiful, whether short or tall.  You are smart regardless of the level of education you have achieved.  You are accomplished in your own unique ways.  No two of you are alike, each one fearfully and wonderfully made by God.  Each with a value and purpose that is your own.  To the women I am privileged to have in my life, thank you for being your wonderful self and sharing that with me.

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