Today was Easy

I wasn’t even looking for things for which I was grateful today, but they found me. 🙂

#0004 – Rainbows! I realized the weather was perfect tonight to breed rainbows so dashed outside to look. Not only was I rewarded with a swath of color splashed across the stormy skies, but it was a rare complete bow. I ran back into the house for my camera, but when I looked to the sky 60 seconds later, it was reduced to two partial arcs. I wish I’d waited and savored the moment while I had it, but perhaps that fleeting glance will live longer in my mind than if I’d had it long enough to lose the wonder of the moment.

#0005 – Clouds – Within 15 minutes, the sky where one leg of the rainbow had stood was clearing and blue, and I realized for the first time that rainbows need clouds in order to show to their best glory. Then the skies cleared enough for a sunset to dance from west to east. From our home, we can’t really see the western sky very well, but the end of the storm made an incredible background for the palette splashed into the east by the retiring sun. I wondered if maybe we also need a few clouds for the best to show in us as well.

#0006 – Friends who bake awesome brownies and share! – Not only did I get a wonderful treat, but I don’t have to endure having an entire pan of brownies at my disposal. That makes it a double blessing indeed! 🙂

The Thanks That Made Me Cry

Whew! The week before this past week was wild and wooly – SO much happening that I could have posted a good entry twice a day if I’d had time to breathe… and this week has been all about trying to do some catching up. Woke up Monday in an odd sort of mood, and the entire week has been very productive for me. Actually, I’ve invented a new game for myself, and since it’s still working, I’m hanging onto it. I pulled out my slightly dusty chore box and one die.

Rules are roll the die, count back the number of cards matching the roll, and do the job without grumbling. Extra large jobs (like finishing the sewing room) require 15 minutes of concerted effort. I also have cards for reading, knitting, spinning, etc., which means every so often I get a very nice surprise. :o) Among other things, this week has seen me writing my last Christmas thank you note and sending two goody packages to friends – stuff that was meant to go out last year sometime! Feels really great to have the weight of so many old tasks off my shoulders and to see so many other things progressing after languishing for such a long time, and the approach is great for an ADD brain. But this wasn’t what I set off to post today, so I guess I better get back to the topic intended…

My wild and wooly week was actually 8-9 days long, and most of what happened was good stuff – enough to last me for months instead of days! I’m just going to share the first thing tonight so this doesn’t take me two hours to write. Besides, it was so special to me that it deserves its own post.

Remember the Cyber Fiber Retreat I mentioned a while back? Well, unbeknownst to me, the fun wasn’t entirely over. I received a mysterious package in the mail two Saturdays ago, return address being that of one of the participants. What was inside absolutely knocked my socks off! The retreaters got together off group and gathered up the most incredible bundle of fiber for me as a thank you surprise… I was doing the guppy thing – totally speechless! I’ve done a lot of stuff like this retreat – organized activities online and off, taught classes gratis for years, given away patterns and designs, and in all that time I’ve learned that a few people will remember to say thanks, and once in a great while, someone goes so far as to drop a handwritten note in the mail. This fantastic bunch of gals, none of whom I’ve ever met in person or even spoken with on the phone, went all out go put together a gift that reduced me to tears! My most “intangible” friends gave me the most tangible thank you I’ve ever received.  It looked like someone had secretly followed me around at a fiberfest and bought everything I fondled! Even more incredible to me is that I now own the world’s coolest knitting bag. :o) What’s so fantastic about it? Well, it was custom made just for me! It has the names of all the women at the retreat embroidered on the back of it, and when I sit with it beside me while knitting, I feel like they are all close by. I love it!

And check out Granny on the front; is she something or what?

Besides my wonderful bag, the contents of my box included:

• a big ball of targhee/mohair roving from one of the retreaters’ flock
• a ball of Tofutsies sock yarn in a lively green print – too fun!
• a skein of Heritage HandPaint Oxford 2 Sock Yarn in the Wood Violets colorway – and wild violets are one of my very favorite flowers
• a generously fat skein of hand painted sock yarn in wonderfully earthy shades from Wendy, the Yarn Fairy
• a ball of sock yarn suspected to be from Interlacements in delicious peacock shades
• a cone of Colourmart’s always marvelous cashmere laceweight yarn in caramel
• a skein of DyeForMe baby alpaca lace yarn so the next time I’m dying to dye, I won’t have to sacrifice Kidsilk Haze
• 2 ounces of tussah silk roving, handpainted in luscious shades of pink, purple, and blue
• a sweet little nosegay which will be wonderful adorning a shelf in my new sewing room
• and all sorts of sweet cards and notes of appreciation

Now, do I have a great bunch of friends, or what? All I can say is that if you ever have the opportunity to bless someone the way I was blessed by these incredible ladies, please do so! And if someone has done something nice for you recently, please take a moment to say thank you in a meaningful way. It’s too easy to take people for granted and realize too late that we have. ‘Nuff said…

Thanks again, my dear friends!

Friends

I’m not going to blog what I’d planned tonight, because I received an email forward that inspired some thoughts to spill out into print. Just wanted to share this instead. I wish I knew who wrote it. First the forward, which you may well recognize, then where my mind wandered…

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person… When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend, and they are. They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any Wrong doing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, and their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on..

Some people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn. They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it; it is real. But only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons – things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person, and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.

To be quite honest, I hated this the first time I ever saw it. I thought it was depressing and one of the dumbest things a person could ever believe – just a fancily worded cop out for not being able to sustain a long term relationship. Then a funny – or perhaps not so funny – thing happened. I started living it (without my permission, mind you). I’ve had two very precious friends, women for whom I’d have done almost anything, just up and flake out on me out of the clear blue. No legitimate reason – they were just gone – poof! One has been just a year now, and the other maybe four, and both gone right at this time of the year. Sometimes I find myself missing one or the other of them so badly that I think my heart is going to break all over again.

My first reaction to the loss of each was anger, and how I wanted to hate them for hurting me so terribly! But, thank God, though the pain is still part of me, He’s allowed me to see just how instrumental each of them was to me becoming the person that I am today – very far from perfect, but I think a little closer to what He would want of me. When I started thinking back as far as I could through the people I’ve known, and especially those I’ve loved as friends, I can, with very little effort, see at least one particular gift each has left with me before taking a fork in the road to continue their life journey along another path. No, I will never stop missing the companionship of their friendship, and if I had a choice, all my friends would be “forever friends,” but how can I harbor anger toward a gift that was hand picked for me by a loving God – even if it was a jewel to hold in my hand only for a season?

So I no longer hate this little piece – well… other than the fact that it reminds me that friends aren’t always forever. Every time I read it, though, I take a moment or two to reminisce and be grateful for every friend who has walked a ways with me – and I smile.

Come walk with me and be my friend;

Share sunny days, and laughter lend.

Let me hold your hand and cry

When pain and hardships don’t pass by.

Teach me things I need to know,

And I will help you, too, to grow.

My prayer would be that we might stay

Friends until our dying day,

But if our paths cross briefly, still

Our friendship will His purpose fill.

So walk with me and be my friend,

And when our days together end,

Sweet memories I’ll feast upon

And pray for you as I hike on.

©De-De Heeter 2008