Friday Funnies

When I got back to Alabama from Blissdom, my boys squeeled, ran, and jumped. It was like a movie. I fell under their tackle, and then Ian licked me up one side of my face and down the other. It was messy.

Seth and I had been apart way too long, so I packed us up as soon as I could, started down the mountain, and then winter got surprisingly pushy, unannouncingly agressive. Within four minutes, the road was ice, the sky a white blur, and cars were acting like ballerinas. I had to turn back, and oh the aching for Seth grew.

Now I’m home with him.  My toothbrush slid into the cup next to his. (This is where I’d like to insert a happy jumping imoticon with eyebrows that raise up and down.)

Blissdom this year was all grown up. It was serious, a machine, a party with heart. It was beautiful. It was at Gaylord Opryland Hotel, a giant building that feels a little like the Shining, but it was gorgeous and clean and lent itself well to my need for exercise.

I got to see so many of my (in)courage girlfriends, and that within itself was such an affirming thing. They really are my sisters. We all went to breakfast one morning, and there Kristen and I happy-cried together. I’m sure I could have done that with them all. My homegirls, Holley and Stephanie (we’re all in NWArkansas), can throw a serious get-together, too.

{photo by DawnMHSH}

When someone is so close to your heart, you’ll find something tangible to hold or view just to feel all the nearer – it’s just a skin response. I know it’s true because I carry a note with me everywhere I go from a dear one who wasn’t there. I know it because I thought about wearing my posy pin on my pajamas. These pictures, too, remind me of the ones I love, the ones who believe in me and the ones I envision with futures full of greatness.

A sister from the beginning, SaraSophia {photo by chatting at the sky}

In a rut of no sleep, I fell to tears repeatedly while at Blissdom. In one episode, I was having lunch with some amazing ladies. I looked at  my Emily (yes, mine) and began to cry. I could barely get it out of my mouth that I knew I would watch her do great things. When we said goodbye, she cried and said the same thing back to me. It’s like if she says it, then I believe it.

UPDATE:

even blurry, she's gorgeous

Stephanie from Adventures in Babywearing is such a fun friend, one of those who should never give me her phone number lest I call her daily and talk her head off.

Oh me. Look at this. Robin from Pensieve is always my roomie. I don’t know what I’d do without her, even on a regular basis, much less at a conference. Besides, no party is decent without her, no late-night talk even worth the breath.

Arianne from To Think is To Create is a woman with discernment and with words of wisdom. There’s something sweet Jesusy about us. We dream about each other. One time in prayer for her, I saw Jesus’ hands. She goes to Him for me, too. Those are real friends. And see our necklaces, the ones from Uganda, hand-rolled magazines made beautiful beads?  They’re gorgeous.

SaraSophia from Tout-est-des-roses, I mentioned her earlier, my sister. She could have grown up just down the road from me. She knows my same home sounds. She, in fact, feels like home, and one day, we’re going to have a porch-singing together - I just know it.

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I have so much more to say and show about this confernnce, especially about my sessions. For now I need to mother and get over some icky throat thing, and I’m also learning how to use a PC. I just broke up with Apple for eating all my babies’ photographs. Yes. I hear your resounding Booooooo. Thank you.

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Tagged as: compassion, Friends

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