Friends, Old and New, to Play with

Today was a busy day getting ready for friends coming over for supper. I spent some time mowing and cleaning up the lawn. Took a short shopping trip with Baby X to get sand for her sandbox. It took a while to locate and purchase the sand, but I did finally come home with enough so her sandbox could be emptied of the nasty remnants of what was in there before. She was able to help me full it with the new sand so that was exciting. We flew kites for a bit this afternoon, and then waited for the arrival of the family of an old friend of ours.

This is a family that has had many challenges and changes over the years, as have we. The parents are some of our oldest friends, and there is a bond between us that is stronger than the surface, gone-at-the-first-hint-of-trouble variety. They understand some of the struggles that I have dealt with and have not rejected me for them. They are encouraging of me and I consider them both close friends.

Their kids are people who Baby X has seen occasionally, but doesn't have a current, ongoing context for a great deal of interaction / friendship.

Due to the (figurative) water that has gone under the bridge for all of us, I am grateful for opportunities to interact. They are some of my oldest friends and some of the best.

Baby X had an absolute blast playing with their children tonight. They played hard, with passion, with kindness and with respect for her  3 year old perspective. The friendship here while not "brand new" still was something that they all had to get used to. They got used to it and by the end of the night, as they were leaving, she was begging them to "please, please come back again."

I don't think it's especially profound, just important to realize, but we need both kinds, and we need to be both kinds.

When we are old friends we have a long term commitment to that friendship. It goes both ways, we trust and are trusted. We are there for our friends and they are there for us.

Yet, if we remain insulated and only interact with the people we have known for a long time, we will inevitably stagnate. We need the influx of new friendship that spur us to do better and help us prepare when something new comes along. Baby X is building memories and friendships that will last and provide the basis for friendships in the coming years.

We should rely on old friendships, prove ourselves worthy of the same reliance, yet not pass up opportunities to form new friendships and offer our friendships to new friends. It's not easy, but this balance helps us maintain the truth of who we are and acknowledges that the future will most likely bring changes and other things that will be out of our control. Regardless of if they are old or new we need and will continue to need friends. And our friends need us and will continue to need us.


Random thoughts

• I am so ready for warm weather
• Watching the streaming coverage of Coachella allows access to all kinds of music. The dubstep / EDM is so easy to zone out to and let the bass carry you along. 
• Looked for the Northern Lights tonight, but didn't see anything of interest.
• The chance to just sit, think, and then ramble on about something is therapeutic.
• My eyelids are heavy, but my mind wants to hang out. Just wish sleep wasn't that important.
• There are some friends who I miss, sometimes painfully much.