All and Around

There's this amazing group of women that gets together every few years or so for a weekend-long slumber party--and once in a while, the stars and frequent flyer miles align just right and I get to go and be with them.  These ladies have been friends for years and years (I try to create a timeline of how long they've known each other and how they all know each other, but it always ends up looking more like a loop-di-loop because of all the hilarious side stories and remember-whens and I'm still not sure how it all fits together.  It doesn't matter).  I'm a new addition but they've taken me in like one of their own.  It's a blessed feeling.

There was a winery tour involved.

After two weeks of very quiet family time in our house--the last time we'll probably be alone for Christmas for many years, I imagine--I was pretty ready to get out of the house.  As you know, I'm a hermit by nature and love to hunker down in jammies for a good chunk of time.  But even I needed to get out by the end of it, and there was a slumber last weekend, and so I went.

It was awesome.  And gorgeous.  And drunkerly.

Loooong introduction just in order to say that one of the women at the slumber was telling a story of a very, very difficult time she went through ten years ago or so.  Heartbreakingly difficult.  But she says the one thing she really remembers about that time is not so much the pain anymore, but the way everyone in her life rallied around her.  The visits.  The phone calls.  The meals.  The caring that extended itself and embraced her through that difficult time.

The sky looked like this.

Maybe if we're cynical we see that as a cliché sugar coating of difficulty.  Maybe we've gone through things and people haven't shown up, or have shown up in ways that felt wrong.  I get that.  But her story really resonated with me, because I had a similar sense of being embraced and supported this fall.  Nothing bad or tragic happened, thank goodness.  But you know, I was pretty sick with nerves during the process of getting this job in Boise.  Lots of "what have I done's" and "this is going to be a disaster" and "why would they want me" was happening.  Everything went down so fast, and I had to really tune in to my intuition and tune out a lot of other, left-brained stuff.  Otherwise I think I would have completely big-time freaked out.  The little freaking out looked instead like:  Lots of not sleeping at night and waking up anxious when I did sleep.  Talking to myself.  Reviewing my resume and everything I've ever done and being sure I'd come up short.  Angst.

Then I got the interview, and things got even more intense, fear-wise.  But on the day of the interview, when I woke up in the hotel room in Boise, friends and family essentially barraged me with texts and emails wishing me well.  Even though they weren't sure they wanted me to get the job, or wanted me to get it more than anything, or were busy with their own lives, they made sure I knew that they had my back, and that I was supported no matter what happened.

God, this is another "all about me" post, I think.  But that's not what I mean--it's not the point.  It's the fact that we have this incredible community of loving and loved people around us, and that has become so beautifully clear lately, and I'm so glad for it.

Things got a little wild and we may have broken a chair.  No, that is not real hair on the chair, that is a wig.  But you get the idea.