Rich in Friends

Life definitely has its ups and downs but something that makes the journey so much more enjoyable and easy to bear is really wonderful friends. I consider the many amazing people I call my friends to be one of the great gifts of this life. Over the past few weeks, despite the lack of photo evidence, I've had some ample opportunities to reconnect with the dearest of old friends, gather with new friends, and enjoy the company of people I just adore.

First of all, my sweet friend Misty turned 50 and her husband found the most fantastic way to celebrate her! He set up a day jammed with all of her favorite things and then invited her friends to be a part of each thing. We started with an early appointment for manicures and pedicures. This is a treat that always feels like I'm getting spoiled, but then to be with Misty and meet a couple of her life-long friends just made it better. Following the toe-treatment, we made a quick trip to our favorite soda shop, Swig, to get lovely beverages and say hello to Misty's daughter Paige who works there. Then we zoomed down to SLC (from Bountiful) for lunch at a lovely little bakery downtown. After that was an afternoon movie that frankly I was amazed I stayed awake for after eating such a yummy lunch. What a great day and fun way to celebrate a wonderful person.

I would have stayed with Misty even longer but we had an important meeting to get to! Maybe it won't sound that exciting, but two times a year we meet together for Stake Conference, meetings on Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening and Sunday morning involving a group of wards that are all part of the same area or stake. I truly love hearing from the great people who lead our stake. This was an especially important conference as our current Stake Presidency had been in service for 10 years, which is about a year longer than the normal timeline. We would be hearing who had been called to be our next presidency. The actual calling and sustaining came on Sunday morning, and it turned out to be one of our dearest friends, who is just a year younger than I am. Troy and I were very sobered and touched, and grateful for the service our friend Ben is willing to give. I had wondered if he would be one of the counselors, but my jaw dropped when I heard his name called as the president. He's such a wonderful person, and over the past month we have had three other opportunities to spend time with him and his family as we have gathered for dinner, for our poetry group, and for another dinner welcoming a cool new family who has moved into the neighborhood, whom Troy and I knew in college. The conversations we have had that have lasted late into the night are still on my mind and I just feel this depth of love and gratitude for each of these people. 

Before all of these dinners and gatherings, back when Emma was just getting ready to perform in Frozen, we had a different set of friends get together. The Durhams were in from Seattle, the Gardeners in from California, and that always prompts a dinner together with as many of the old high school friends as possible. My cup is always filled to overflowing when I see these people. I was especially tickled that Emma and Marsden were the only two kids there from the Preslar/Durham families. Usually it requires all six kids to really get into that P/D flow, but the two of them sat there talking and laughing for a long time. It was really cute.

One of the couples from this gang used to live in our ward. John and Amy now live in Provo as John is a professor at BYU. We got together a little bit while they lived here and I always just absolutely adored and longed to spend more time with Amy especially. They have had many adventures taking them to Texas and other places, but now that they have landed in Utah County I do get to see them from time to time. As often happens when this group of friends gather I find myself in a long conversation with Amy, and this time we decided that it just wasn't long enough. We made plans to get together soon, and though it took a few weeks to happen, last week I took a little field trip to their house where we went for a good long walk through the hills of Provo. It was an absolute delight and I hope to do it again soon. Maybe I'll take a photo or two next time. 

Another sweet reunion occured recently. One evening during Emma's play I was working behind the concessions counter when I suddenly found myself getting a big hug and looked to see who it was. It turned out to be Courtney - someone I went to highschool with but didn't really get to know until a couple of years later when we reconnected through other friends and pretty much instantly became absolute best friends. I loved her so much. And we were friends through a pretty rough time of my life before I went on a mission. She saw me make some choices that were total mistakes and for a long time I felt really embarrassed that she had seen that side of me. But every time I see her I'm just so joyful. So I got in touch a few weeks ago and we got together to talk and do our favorite thing - knit! The hours absolutely zoomed by while we caught up on so many things. I love her even more than ever. 

So yes I'm just overflowing with love and joy and gratitude for the wonderful people that fill up my life. There are so many more that I haven't even mentioned here. I love my people!

Also look - this showed up on my doorstep last week. I have no idea who it was, but I do indeed feel loved.