An old, comfortable blanket
Day 1: P picked me up from the airport and took me to run his errands ("You can't sleep. You have to beat the jetlag!"), to eat central Vietnamese food (highly recommend!!), then back to his place because we couldn't find the keys to where I'm staying.
After a short nap in the afternoon, DS and F came over, A and J came home, then a few hours later SK stopped by. We sat around the deck in the backyard with a bottle of wine. We put out candles when the sun went down. We talked about our community - its blemishes and mistakes. We hung around.
I thought: now this is healing. This is what I need.
Like in Day 4, when CW shared about his difficult experience with a friend who is self-destructive, his heart for this friend energizes me. Upon hearing my breakup H told me her funny Match.com date stories to cheer me up. I laughed when KK mused over whether she should meet her boyfriend's parents in her sun-burnt state. And it was wonderful to hear H said: It's like we've known each other for 10 years! To which NW said, that's because we HAVE!! (and everyone groans at how old we're all getting).
When 4-yr old J and I played catch with a lemon in the backyard, I thought, kid, (you are so much fun! and) your parents were the first people to greet me at church 9 years ago. Oh how I'm thankful for them.
I don't know how else to explain it except to say: these people are my home.
No comments:
Post a Comment