The past few weeks have brought some very happy reunions my way. As happens every single summer, things begin to race by in a a flash by about mid-July, and the thing that makes the summer fly is how the calendar fills up day by day. We've been so happy to fill in the cracks in the schedule as friends have called while passing through town.
For starters, my dear friend April and her family came through. April was one of my first friends in this neighborhood. Before our circle of friends really started to swell, April and TerriLyn and Emily and I went for many walks, took a couple of little vacations together, and of course fit in a girls night or two. I'll always remember the night we went to a movie together - TerriLyn and April and I both giggling and marveling at how Emily daintily ate her popcorn one salty kernel at a time while the three of us munched by the handful instead. After the movie we drove up Emigration Canyon, pulled over to the side of the road and got out and just looked up at the stars and talked until the wee hours. April has a frank honesty about her that I have deeply missed since her family moved to Arkansas maybe 4 years ago. And since neither she nor her husband have family in Utah, she hasn't really had the chance to visit. When she said she was going to be driving through I jumped at the chance to pull friends together and we did indeed have an absolutely lovely evening together. You always know a true friend by the way you fall right back into comfortable conversation no matter how many months or years have passed. The only problem was that it made me miss her even more.
Speaking of true friends, another dear one came to town and made me feel loved because she made time to come and see me even though her schedule was quite compact. Marsha is a cute mom who has a daughter Bitty's age - we met when our daughters were in the same preschool class and we quickly became friends. Of course the friendship started when our girls were asking for playdates together, and Marsha and I started talking more and more as we picked up or dropped off our daughters. Soon we were scheduling lunch together and talking for hours. What's funny is that Marsha and I have no other friends in common, no circle of girls we gather with; we just really enjoy each other's company. Marsha and her family moved to St. George two years ago and we don't really even call or text each other much, but when she comes to town she always stops by. And happily, I found myself with a couple of free days with just my girls last week - we decided to take a quick jaunt to Dixie and made time to visit Marsha in her new home for the first time. Like all kindred friends, we never run out of things to say.
Both of these darling friends have daughters who are Bitty's age, and it's been sad to see Bitty lose two dear friends to moves. What a delight it has been to see Bitty get a chance to spend a few hours with her girl friends. I was afraid there would be an awkward "I don't know what to talk about" distance between them, but with both of these girls Bitty just took off and had extremely pleasant alone time. It filled my heart to see, and broke it a little again when people had to be on their way.
Last of all, my good friends Dave and Steph came into town from California. Dave is one of my old high school Yalecrest II ward friends with whom I spent many happy hours both in high school and in college. They gathered together a very large group of old friends and we met at the park for an evening picnic. I can't deny it, I just did not get enough time to talk and reconnect with all the many many people who were there. I needed hours more. (Kid-free hours would have been nice.) There were so many dear people there, especially one old friend whom I didn't know very well in high school but became very attached to after a couple of years of college. She stayed my loyal friend even as I bumbled through my worst dating years before my mission. We don't get together much, but I feel joy every time I get to see her. I tried to tell her how much it meant to me that she was my friend through the worst of times for me, and of course she brushed it off like it was no big deal; friends are friends, she said. But it was a big deal to me, and I love her. I should write her a note. She's not a blog follower and will not know that I am proclaiming her wonderfulness right here.
My cup is overflowing at the moment, just relishing the friends this good life has brought me. And thank you, summer, for sending a few of them my way.
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