relationships are an art form. i’ve decided.
somehow…over the last 8 years in texas…the majority of my close friends have lived out of state…which is weird, since i grew up here. that kinda puts a kink in the party, if you ask me. however…as the years apart from each other go on…we grow closer.
there is nothing that shows you who your real friends are more than being slapped on bed rest during a pregnancy. when it comes to social interaction with the outside world…you are at the mercy of who will come and see you all reclined back in your lazy boy, laying on your left side (or right? it’s crazy that i can’t remember!) to try and keep the contractions at bay. i could only get up to go to the bathroom. so…that pretty much took “meeting a friend for lunch” out of the equation.
the first time this happened to me…my parents, my grandmother, and my aunt stepped in to the rescue without batting an eye…coming to take care of my little boys and clean my house and make our food. chad’s mom and my sister-in-laws came into town from iowa and went school shopping for the boys. and my best friend ami, from iowa (and that is how i always refer to her), called me up and said, “hold tight. i’m coming.”
you know you have a keeper when she will leave her own family, hop on a plane, and fly to your side for a week without even being asked. she sat by me on the couch and we laughed and talked until chase woke up from his nap…and then she would walk upstairs and get him because i couldn’t. she stepped in to be mama for the boys. she cooked food. she was my girl.
i remember care packages arriving from south carolina, filled with twizzlers and a friends dvd box set to help me pass the time. you know me so well, lindsey robertson mart.
and dea…well she brought her pregnant self from the woodlands…to bring me my favorite schlotzkie’s sandwich and took up residence in the second recliner for the day. i like to think that our unborn daughters started their friendship that day.
i do long distance friendships well.
but when you spend all day, every day with your pint sized besties…
…doing things like lodge room, fort building facilitating…
…and bubble referee…
…a girl just needs a tangible friend.
so…needless to say that my aspiring friendships of the last year have been a life-line of sorts.
i can walk across the street with an empty mason jar; knock on the door; and when she opens it…i silently hold up the cup…knowing she will know just how to fill it.
and she did. without me having to say a word.
and last night, after my soccer game…i went out to eat with my team, like always…and surber (there you go christina!!) ordered for me:
“she wants an order of flour tortillas, a small order of charro beans, an order of rice, and an order of guacamole. only make sure that the guacamole doesn’t come on shredded lettuce.”
i looked across the table at my teammate that i had met only last spring and smiled. because it was a beautiful picture of friendship. she knew me. like…she really knew me. these people have become my friends. if i needed one of them…i think they would be there. i really think that they would.
and if someone talked trash about me or tried to hurt me…
they will have my back.
and not just on the soccer field.
my girls??? well…they know how to fill my cup, alright.
and that is an amazing feeling.
****
the last official week of summer was spent getting prepared…
prepared for a change of the tide…
the change of the season.
our home school room is pretty much ready for us.
let’s go fall.
bring me a tide i can surf.