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Sunday, February 13, 2011

Shazam

I had a great playdate this weekend.  Two of my oldest friends, their spouses and all of their children met in a middle ground to sled, paint, climb trees and swing on swings.  and there was pizza.  It was awesome.  My parents hosted us, swept up messes, held chubby hands and we all got a chance to talk almost like grownups. well, EXACTLY like grownups, with all of the interruptions and repetitious concerns of grownups with children...
In groups like that my hearing is always an issue, I concentrate so hard on finding out what the subject is that I can make myself exhausted very quickly and not be able to take part as much as I'd like.  But when it is a very old friendship, there is SO much forgiveness and SO much familiarity that it feels like the best hot cocoa, the warmest socks, the sharpest cardinal on the branch... it becomes something magical.
watching your friends being parents, seeing in them the reflection of a time past, falling in love with their kids because of the familiarity of feature (sometimes), or the common laugh, the way in which the goofiness spreads... watching your friends deal with the kids' misbehavings, feeling the love and compassion for the strugglers and the parents struggles.... while dealing with all of that yourself...
ah, mishmash of love and hope and an awareness of how big family can be. and small. . . intimate. . . and old... and new, as we all re-meet in different places than a bunch of 7 yr olds, or 14 year olds... right underneath the surface of the new insecurities, the deepening distresses, realizations of longevity and mortality... right underneath that we are still the kids in the group, running for the sleds, trying to get our sleds back up the hill... laughing and feeling the pull of greatest joy. 

3 comments:

Valerie said...

Lovely.

Jen said...

What a perfect weekend. I know just what you were feeling.

Owen A said...

just wanted to express that I enjoyed this post, if I didn't quite follow every turn near the end.