Just a little memory from a long ago fall season <3
Before I share the post I planned, I wanted to thank you for the comments I found when I opened up the site to add my words today. I read each one and got pretty teary-eyed on a couple of them. I will be responding personally, but I saw you and I thank you for leaving me a note <3
And now for today’s thought….
I have been walking more and that means I have been thinking more. I know, scary, right? I try to pay attention to what floats into my mind because that’s where most of my posts come from.
With the arrival of fall, I have of course been reminiscing over past years. On a recent walk, I remembered fall in the little town my family settled in that allowed me to finish elementary school through graduation with the same group of kids. Heaven for me as I had longed through all our moves with the Air Force to be settled in one place to grow up.
I made a lot of friends in the grade school I attended. Our town was small enough and safe enough that we could walk to each others houses after school. Fall was particularly beautiful in this town in the middle of Kentucky and made for fun after school adventures.
One of my friends lived in a large house just down from the high school. This street was lined with huge homes that had been built way early in the settlement of the town and they were so interesting with fireplaces in bedrooms and yards filled with ancient trees and shrubs.
My friend’s house had persimmon trees lining the walk that led up to the porch. In the fall we would gather them up and try our best to like them, but we never did. They were terribly sour, but we would gather some every so often and try again just to find out, once again, that they didn’t hold a candle to the brownies her mom had made for us for after school snacking.
Reidy was well named for she was reed-like. As thin as I was round, we got the idea in about fifth grade to dress alike. We scoured our closets and the only thing we could come up with that was similar was a white blouse and navy skirt.
We planned days we would wear our matching outfits and it was so fun. I laugh looking back as I imagine my chunky self in a white blouse and navy skirt dressed like my very thin friend. I am sure we were fodder for a giggle or two from other kids or teachers, but, if so, it never penetrated our joy.
In fact, when I would look at Reidy, all skinny in her pleated skirt and crisp blouse, it felt like I was looking in a mirror and seeing my own reflection. So much for poor self-esteem. I was happy as could be on those days.
We kind of had different interests once we hit high school. Not in bad ways, just different and as those things can happen, we didn’t continue dressing alike or trying persimmons. We were not at odds, just not as close as we had been. I lost my roundness, but faced other trials, and there were more friends that loved, counseled and laughed with me during those years.
There is no moral to this story that I can think of, beyond the fact that a good friendship can carry us a long way during awkward phases of life. God has blessed me with many along the way who have been good friends to me. Some of them are also my family on top of being friends. Some have been for a season and some have been for life. And I am so grateful for each one.
I hope you have some good friends like that who have made the days brighter. Maybe take some time today to call some of those to mind and just thank God for the gift of who they were to you as you traveled the Journey.
Blessings friends, you are dearly loved <3
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