Tomorrow, already?

Tomorrow morning, Pete and I will walk Sarah to her first day of kindergarten. I can't believe this big day in our lives is here already. I know many people will roll their eyes or laugh off the idea of kindergarten being a big deal. But to me, it really is feeling like a big deal. I have been truly blessed to stay home with Sarah since she was born. I have loved watching the small and large moments of her life unfold. I really can't imagine what life will look like with her away from home 5 days a week.

I know she is ready. She is an outgoing, happy and bright little girl. I know she'll make friends easily. She has a wonderful teacher who is a strong Christian women, I praise God for that. It's her mama who will be a big wreck tomorrow. It's me who will miss our days at the zoo, family lunches on the porch, and lazy afternoon naps snuggled in my bed.

Pete and I have made two moves to get into a great school district, knowing one day soon Sarah would be off to kindergarten, but it's hard to believe that that day is tomorrow.

Back to school ice cream fun …

Although the official end of summer may not be until next weekend, summer is ending for us this evening. School starts up this week and I am back to work at the church. This past week we tried to squeeze in some last minute summer fun. On Wednesday night, we had an ice cream party for neighborhood kids who will be starting kindergarten with Sarah. I sent out an Evite to 8 families and told them to invite anyone they knew who will be starting kindergarten. We ended up with 12 families. It was fantastic. Most of the children did not know each other, so it gave them a chance to meet some new friends before the start of school. I wanted Sarah to have a few familiar faces in the sea of nearly 100 kindergarteners who will be starting this week.

I provided the ice cream and everyone brought a topping. I have to say I was really impressed with the creative toppings we ended up with. There were all the basics plus berries, gummy bears and cute little cookie dough balls (thanks Megan!). The kids had fun eating their sundaes, but even more fun chasing each other around the yard burning off their sugar highs. I really enjoyed meeting some new moms (and a dad) and hearing about the school from the veteran parents. Sarah and I agreed that it was so much fun, we may make it an annual tradition.

Since we are just entering the world of "real" school, I would love to hear your family's back to school traditions.

I’d cross the street for you…

My friend Anna said a quote the other day that has really stuck with me. I believe she said it was by Eleanor Roosevelt. The quote went something like, "Many friendships are lost by people's unwillingness to cross the street." Okay this is probably a really well known quote that I have now butchered, but you get the meaning. It's such a true statement. So often in our busy, self righteous, modern day lives, we let great friendships slip away because we are just unwilling to cross the street. The street can represent so many things. Hurt feelings, misunderstandings, a move, a life status change. Our best friend moves across the country, and we are too busy to pick up the phone and call them – the friendship fades away. A friend slights us and we don't take the emotional energy to explain the pain they have caused, instead we let the friendship die. Life gets moving so fast that we place our friendships on the backburner, only to find them gone when we finally find the time for them.

Spending time with my college roommates this weekend, I kept thinking that you just can't make old friends. You can meet someone new to go out to coffee with, but you can't go out and replace your old friends. I won't lie; my little gang of college friends has experienced our share of issues. There were years when I was completely nuts, and other years when some of them were. We have had to come to terms with our differences in priorities, goals and religions. We have hurt one another, but we have loved one another more. They are the women who held my hand during the darkest time in my life and the same women who danced to Gloria Gainer at my wedding. Those are the type of friends you can't decide to go out and make. They are the friends you have to decide to keep.

Friendships like that are like a marriage. It takes time, energy and an emotional investment. That is what I love about Anna's quote. Crossing the street is such a great illustration, it's an active decision, and it's intentional. Crossing the street doesn't just happen. You chose it and you do it. The beautiful thing about friendships is that there is someone on the other side of the street, willing to make the same choice.

Do you have those friends? The ones you need to keep. I hope you'll take the time to plan a girl's weekend, or just night out. At the very least, give them a call just to let them know that you'd cross the street for them.