A neighbor shoveled my walk yesterday sometime between 4:30 and 6:30 a.m.. I am not sure who did it, but I have an idea. My relief at finding this when it was 4 degrees outside can’t be measured. I could see that all of the walks in the cul-de-sac had been shoveled to so it wasn’t obvious who the good neighbor had been. Nice work! That was my happy face from yesterday in the picture above. You’re welcome. (for the laugh)
The past few weeks have brought a new friend in my life through one of Timothy’s friends at school. I learned that we grew up within a mile or two of one another. She and I graduated from the same high school several years apart and we admired the same teachers. Last night we learned that their family and ours had each worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the early days of our marriages. I love finding people with whom it’s so comfortable to to talk.
I asked… “Have you see this [obscure film]?” and of course she had. It is nice to be understood based on where I came from without her having to know me during those flawed years of my life. She has been a good friend during these days without Richard. She is a recent widow, yet she still showed sympathy to me about this time without him. I admire her for that selflessness. My favorite people are those who can look at someone’s situation and appreciate the importance of it and show empathy, despite their own pain or experiences.
I haven’t made close friends very often in my life, and that’s the way I prefer things to be. Some people are just easier for me to share things with. I appreciate friendships on many levels. I need many different kinds of friends
I have my “Role Model” friends with whom I tag along and try to learn their ways, never feeling that they let me in too close.
I have my “Parents of my Children’s Friends” group and that’s a fun relationship because I learn about them through their children so I think of them as friends even though we rarely talk. I know what they are doing and when they eat dinner and other things about their schedules. These are the friends I can text at 6:30 in the morning with a question about carpool and I know they will be up. These are the friends whom I can call when there is a school dilemma, and honey, I have a lot of those now.
There are the “Friends because we are Working Together at Church” friends. Sometimes these relationships last beyond the assignment, but there is a beautiful bond that lasts from shared experiences even if we have nothing else in common.
I will call anyone a Friend who loves my children.
Yesterday was a happy friend day.