Friends

This last week has been graced with visits from our friends Mer and little Mer (of the Merry Potter) and Bree and Angus.

Mer and her daughter came up from Washington for Soul-Baby's Saturday birthday party. We have been friends for years, long before marriage and motherhood. They were able to stay through Monday, and it was wonderful to have leisurely time together. Our daughters are at an age (Alley-3 and 1/2 and Little Mer -almost 2) where they can play together and talk together. It was heartwarming to watch these little blondies, extensions of our own hearts, walking around, bumping into eachother, laughing, learning to share, growing to be friends.

Parenthood changes friendships. I find particularly with old friends, parenthood deepens what was already there. Mer and I have a deep well to draw from and I feel thankful for the memories and loyalties that continue to grow and expand. She reminds me of who I was before combining my life with another, and helps me integrate who I am and who I can be.

We took the girls to a local park and watched them squeal and slide headlong toward the soft, wood chipped-ground with static hair and flushed cheeks. Beautiful.

Bree and Angus arrived on Wednesday in route to the east coast of Canada. Angus is a friend of Bree's from the Omack area in Washington. They are taking the train Coast-to-Coast in one month. The Vancouver area is their starting point. We can't wait to hear stories from the road!

Bree has been a dear friend for years. We went to the same University for Nursing (a few years apart) and enrolled in a Doula course together when Alley was an infant. She now lives in Portland, but we keep-in-touch and welcome any chance to visit eachother.

Visits such as these are like windows opening in my soul. They turn my eyes a different direction and open blinds to let in streams of light. Our hearts reunite for a time. With the goodbye, I felt a portion of my heart carried across the ferry to an island in Washington and stowed away in a back-slung bag on the coast-to-coast train.

Fullness of life.