When you

When you find hope, cling to it.

When you find love, fuel it.

When you find friendship, trust it.

When you find God, believe it.

When you find patience, practice it.

When you find beauty, exude it.

When you find forgiveness, accept it.

When you find light, peace, creativity, joy, and tenderness...

Share it.

~mhpardon the graininess of the above picture (taken on Shawn's cell. but I love it!)

~

We drove 5 1/2 hrs to ARKANSAS

It had been ages since I last visited Eureka Springs, Arkansas. I was in junior high and went with girlfriends; we tried on matching sparkly, black {short} dresses. I liked all the shops with their shelves of velvety hats and cheeky souvenirs. So when Davina announced she was coming to visit, I began planning a girls-only (thank you, Shawn and Company for watching Wilder) getaway, thinking Eureka Springs was a good fit. I thought surely the quaint shops and pretty terrain would woo her.

I forgot that it's Arkansas.

And there are such things as puppets for sale:
While it wasn't as "cool" as I remember, we still enjoyed trolling Eureka's uneven sidewalks and chatting up sales clerks. The Peabody House, where we stayed, was relaxing and quiet, as were our hour-long massages and lingering meals.

Life's what we make it, right?

Peabody House

Dee, I miss you very much already. Thank you so much for flying a trillion miles to see me; I want to return the favor someday.
After all, that's what friends are for.

~

Bossom buddies. Fo' real.

She flew in from Germany (her husband is in the military). We've had two blissful weeks together, catching chick-flicks, trekking to Eureka Springs, experiencing fine dining and live theater. I will be sad when it's over, for fear it will be another 2 1/2 years until we embrace again.

Davina and I met our freshman year of college, wherein we each only spent one year at that school. Reasons for our switching schools aside, we've always said the best part of freshman year was finding each other. We worked together, played together, exercised together.

Nearly a decade later, we remain close friends, while relying on hand-penned notes and Facebook chat as our saving graces. I'm crossing my fingers for Skype to work for both of us very soon.

I don't know why the Lord chose to have one of us smack-dab in the middle of the U.S. amidst wheat fields and dairy cows, the other of us to be experiencing ancient-old castles and exquisite cuisine in Europe. We profess that one day, when old, saggy, and graying, we will live close enough to one another to have chai tea on the front porch, and reminisce about our skinnier days.

We don't need glue, we don't need proximity. The thousands of miles and oceanic tides stretching between us mean nothing. What boundaries?

For us, it is a matter of keeping on going.

No matter where we are.

All that matters

In the end all that matters is that we loved really, really fiercely. ~me

Enjoy your weekend. Spread the love.

I love the blog community

...and not just because I won these cool Baggu reusable shopping bags from Joy the Baker (check out her blog; she's self-taught!).


...but because sharing my heart in a supportive environment means so stinkin' much to me I could squeeze ya. Thank you.

Love!