Along the road...
Topic: People/Family stories


I saw a sight called Endless Rant.....and while it's a fun name for a sight, blogs can tend to end up as ranting grounds.....blah blah blah blaaaaaaaaaaaahg. My hope is that this will be an encouraging, funny and informative blog. So here's my first try *cringe*......

Sending out Christmas 'newsletters' is a great thing to do....keeping in touch with old friends (and old family *hey, just kidding*) is easy with a once a year chronicle complete with cute graphics and a little innocent bragging.

This year when I sent out our letter, I got several back, meaning old 'friends' had up and moved off without sending a new address! *ouchie* Well...I'm sure they didn't let it happen on purpose, but it happened just the same and it was a bad feeling. *ew* So what a nice feeling and surprise when 3 of my old friends got in contact with me this January. Cool beyond degree!

One is a friend I have had since we were 4 years old, when she moved in next door to my parents house. We grew up together.....moved in different circles starting in high school, but whenever we were together it was like old times and she is a part of me and who I am. Newly divorced and a single mom to two little boys, she is incredibly positive and full of hope for the future. Some things don't work out like we envision them, but what an awesome way to comeback!

The second one emailed me her blog and her photo album online....a cool, yet thoughtful gesture to reacquaint I think. We met in college...I think it was in Old Testament History with Dr. Dane. We went through college laughing and crying together, sharing lots and lots of memories and 'moments'....like the time we were 'studying' out on the lawn in front of the library and a pigeon POOPED in my hair and let me tell you, pigeon poop gains a lot of speed while falling from a tall palm tree....*DOINK* I was so embarrassed and she walked me to my car and drove home with me to wash it out. (later on we were thinking, 'why didn't we just go to a campus restroom????' But anyway, she supported me in my most tragic pigeon poop episode....well ok, she was rolling around laughing at me the entire time! (but that just made it less humiliating for me.) We were Resident Assistants in the freshman dorm together (well she was the head honcho and I was a lowly RA), she was in my wedding, and she is a part of me and who I am. Turns out she has been through a good many troubles these past 20 *erk, should I admit that?* years since college. But she has found a good place in her life right now and is loved and happy. Her blog reacquainted me with her...she is quirky, artsy and funny and a really good writer and photographer. Her blog inspired me to start this and she inspires me to be myself. =)

The third friend to get back in touchyness is a lady I met when we both had new babies! I really needed a friend, as we had just moved across the country and had just begun a family and we knew no one! She befriended me and we walked babies in strollers, went to exercise classes, talked about our husband-types...they were both ministers.....and she gave me a lot of practical wisdom in raising babies (hers was a month or two older, so she was the expert and knew what I needed to know!) Over the ten years we lived in New Jersey, we eventually went to separate churches and spheres of influence, but she helped me and we bonded in those early childhood years and she is part of me and who I am. She sent a picture of her very tall family! They looked like a wonderfullly fun family and so happy...inspiring.

So as I was driving very slooooooooowly along I 40, along mountain curves and in inches of snowy slush today....I was distracting myself by thinking of what I would write about if I started a blog...or maybe a novel! ha! And these are the thoughts that I was thinking and then it reminded me of a song by Rich Mullins....here tis, Brother's Keeper...nice blogging at you.

"Now the plummer's got a drip in his spigot
The mechanic's got a clank in his car
And the preacher's thinking thoughts that are wicked
And the lover's got a lonely heart
My friends ain't the way I wish they were
They are just the way they are

And I will be my brother's keeper
Not the one who judges him
I won't despise him for his weakness
I won't regard him for his strength
I won't take away his freedom
I will help him learn to stand
And I will ~ I will be my brother's keeper