Thursday, January 24, 2013

Pondering, Positivity, and Praise for a Thursday


Pondering: The mystery of friendship.

Aside from feverishly working on book revisions this week (thus my bloggy silence) one thing that's kept us busy is having an extra ten-year-old in the house. One of Ramona's best friends is in town and she's been able to spend a lot of nights at our house.

The friendship between these two girls has grown up over the years despite living 500 miles apart. This friend -- I'll call her Faith -- and her family moved away when Ramona and Faith were just two years old. They didn't miss each other at first. "Friends" at that age, of course, are really just toddlers playing side by side and, we hope, not clobbering each other too much.

But as these two little girls have gotten back together on recurring visits over the years, they've found  that they are like two peas in a pod, two sides of a coin, twins separated at birth, and every other cliche you can think of to describe kindred spirits. Faith's older sister still lives here in our little town, so Faith and her parents (with whom Atticus and I are friends, too) come back to visit at least a couple of times a year. Ramona and Faith have seized those opportunities, cemented their friendship, and sealed it with Skype. They've found ways to beat the odds that are in favor of long-distance friendships dying away.

In this post about friends who move away, I quoted C.S. Lewis:

"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... 
It has no survival value; 
rather it is one of those things 
that give value to survival."

Positivity: Instead of feeling sorry for myself about all the dear friends who have moved away, I am thanking God for the mystery, beauty, and gift of friendship. He has given me so many dear, close friends over the years. And though many have moved away, I am also blessed with dear, close friends who still live in my town, women who support and sustain me, and keep me sane. Women who share coffee and chocolate with me, and tears and laughter. Thank you, Lord.

Praise: Praising God for the happiness of ten-year-old girls. Praising God for the kind of happiness that makes little girls skip. Is there anything better than seeing a girl so delighted with her life that she skips everywhere?

(Photo thanks to Stock.xchng.)

3 comments:

sarah said...

That is indeed a joy :-)

Karen Edmisten said...

I know you understand it well, Sarah. :)

Anonymous said...

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