Friends=Food For The Soul

This picture is something I treasure for a lot of reasons. This is the first photo we have of Hazie playing with a friend. For those of you that do not know Hazie, she was born with spina bifada three years ago this coming September. This tiny, precious girl has been through more in her short life than most of us will ever encounter. If you are interested in her story go to my sidebar and click on my label cloud on the word Hazel. She is the youngest of our ten grandkids and has taught us all so much. She is full of love and happiness and beauty and tenacity. Right now she is learning to get around in her very own sparkly purple wheelchair and doing very well.

In her short life time she has been showered with love by her sisters and cousins and all the adults in our family. She hasn't had a huge amount of contact with a lot of other kids her age because of her pulmonary issues which have required her to be home a lot, especially during the winter months. A cold for her can produce very challenging times.

So this little photo of her playing with her friend Andrew is a real milestone and bench mark. It really brought tears to my eyes when I saw it. It just made me realize how much people need people. Not just our families but good friends. It made me realize Hazie doesn't have to run and play to have friends. They can sit and play and have fun together. It is not so important what they do, but that they do it together. Friends are essential to our well-being.

This picture put my mind at ease in knowing she will have a normal life in spite of her physical challenges. This is when I closed my eyes tightly and the tears squirted out anyway! I am her Gramma, it is my job to worry, right? I didn't fully realize I was worrying about this until I saw this photo and it brought a flood of awareness to this blessing of friendship for her.

Fast forward to yesterday when I went to help my friend with some design work. It was so much fun and lifted me so high to have some time one on one time with my friend. We did our designing stuff and then just sat and talked. It was pure heaven. It made me realize that I hadn't shared some of my deep feelings and concerns with a friend in a really long time. How does that happen? We have so many wonderful friends but our crazy schedules and lives leave lots of us spending way too much time alone. When we have a free minute most of us just collapse in front of the TV and veg out. I am a pretty independent person and I didn't fully realize I was missing this so much.

So today my friend and I made a commitment to do more together. It doesn't have to be something else that brings us together. We can get together and have fun doing just about anything. Just like with Hazel and Andrew...it is not what we are doing...just that we are spending some quality time together. It is not about the activity, it is about the relationship.

That is why I am walking on air today....life is full of learning about yourself and what you need and that part never changes no matter how many decades you walk this planet. And the even better part is that when you actually sit down and really talk about things in a meaningful way, you realize someone you know and care about so much is feeling exactly the same way. And that's one way that people answer other people's prayers and fill their needs. Life is good, isn't it?