The Beauty of Simplicity

I flew into SC on Monday, following a skipping little girl carrying a floppy monkey that I normally would have deemed adorable with a bit more sleep under my belt. Waking in the 4AM hour instead created immense amounts of irritation as she skipped along threatening to trip over her flip-flops and fall in front of me. Her cadence was so chaotic that no matter where I stood along the 20' wide walkway, she kept skipping in front of me. I finally found relief in a nearby bathroom, but not the kind you are thinking. When I emerged, she was nowhere to be seen and I could walk a straight line down the corridor once more without fear of tripping over a suger-infused five year old.

I had the great honor of visiting with a former mission companion and close friend. The world was our oyster and we were this unstoppable team together. There are very few people on this planet who I will go to great lengths to reconnect with and spend more than an hour at a time with, and she is one of them. There is just this pure honesty and sincerity that makes you feel like you are home. 

One morning I woke and told her about a detailed dream I had about a man we would meet and what his house looked like. We looked for it for months, and finally, while driving home from a conference one night, she interrupted my reading. "Is that the house from your dream?" she asked. Indeed it was, and everything that happened from that moment on was just as it happened in the dream. 

As women, we need all kinds of friends, but this one is something extra special. Oddly, I like to say she prepared me to be married to my husband. It just helped me respect certain differences between us that compliment my own weaknesses or strengths. We were so different, and yet we worked so hard to appreciate our unique differences that it created this powerful bond of friendship that never seems to waver.

It was so good to reconnect with her, just like returning home after many years and when you leave you feel more grounded somehow. I came home after being gone for several days and C just wanted to spend time with me. He made me feel so special! He is out cold right now after going to a very early meeting, speaking to one ward, and then attending another ward for his new calling. The birds are in their cages chattering, singing, and earlier Penny started sharing her most recent noise: C's alarm clock. Bee-dee-dee-deep. Bee-dee-dee-deep. Bee-dee-dee-deep. Her impression was rather precise. 

Yesterday I tossed a blanket on the grass under my favorite apple tree and let the birds wander around, nibbling grass, chattering happily to the sunrays, and hulling bits of millet. My laptop played the Lord of the Rings book on CD, and the apple blossoms swayed hypnotically overhead until I surrendered to the tepid breeze and the soft pillow under my head. A few moments later, I was startled by a handful of large raindrops which quickly turned into a downpour. Laughing, I swept the laptop under the pillow and rushed it into my office, sending the birds flying and uncertain if this unanticipated shower was acceptable or not. I laughed again as I watched them wander through the wet grass, not sure if they wanted to stay, or climb up to safety on my shoulder. Alas, my little chickens decided against the cold rain, and we went inside to wait out the storm.