#best09 December 5 Night out. Did you have a night out with friends or a loved one that rocked your world? Who was there? What was the highlight of the night?
Reflecting on this question I have concluded that I have a pretty mundane, mom-grandmom kind of life. I rarely get a big night out that doesn’t involve the family. My kids would beg to differ because when I do get a night out we require one of them to stay home and look after their little brother. But they are wrong. They have more interesting and active social lives that I do. It’s not that I’m complaining…too much. No, I’m not really. Perhaps next year I will rectify that. We shall see.
But back to the best of 2009. Off the top of my head I do recall some nights out that had a profound effect on me. Learning to play blackjack with Kerri, Cassie and Amy in Vegas certainly was one of them. The SITScation weekend was fantastic. But it was only after where I truly made an instant, deep connection with these ladies. As we left, we started talking and talking as if we were old friends since junior high. We talked and talked as we walked through the mall in the Venetian, through dinner where we hooked up with Alli Worthington and Melanie Nelson. And we talked and talked as we walked along the Vegas Strip and at the blackjack table until we realized, “Crap! Look at the time! We have to catch a flight later today.” Good Times!
There was the evening where I watched my daughter and dance team give so much of themselves to benefit another. I did not know the mother for whom the benefit dinner and dance was for. Still I was awed by how so many gave so freely to her benefit. I was especially awed by my daughter and the other dancers whom I have watched grow over the last few years. It was one of those nights where I, as a parent, could say to myself, “Damn! I’m doing a pretty good job here!”
Those nights were amazing. Truly they were. But the one that rocked my world the most involved no card-playing, dancing or wild times. It was a night where I met with a friend for a couple of drinks, appetizers and some quiet conversation…oh, and a few laughs at the expense of the Class of ‘99 reunion taking place where we were at. My closest friend had just learned that she was to become a grandmother for the first time. Like me, it certainly wasn’t the time in her life when she expected to become a grandmother. Like me, it was a time where she found her self conflicted with an overload of emotions with no clue on how to act on them. Kelly was there for me a year and a half before so how could I not return the favor to her? This time I had a little bit of experience on how to navigate this unexpected adventure? Not that I was an expert or anything. I just knew enough that this was a time where one really needed a friend, a friend with no judgments, advice or solutions, just a friend. After she told me her family news, I suggested we should go out that evening, just the two of us and talk. So we did. For us, our lives are so firmly wrapped up in our families and their activities that this was the first time where it was just the two of us alone together. We wasted no time getting into talking, sharing, laughing, crying a little and laughing a lot more. We certainly did not solve our dilemmas of balancing grandparenthood while still raising kids of our own scarcely out of diapers. But we supported each other in this life that was ours. Support like that is needed when one is trying to be there to support their young, single daughters in their own life-altering choices and consequences. I have always considered Kelly to be a dear friend, a good neighbor, but that night I discovered that she was the best of friends, a forever friend. And because 2009 was a pretty tough year for so many reasons, it is so good to have a friend like that just across the street from me.
Still, the best part of this race was sharing it with a friend.
Love is the eternal force of life. Love is the force that allows us to face fear and uncertainty with courage. But although you will be sharing one life, never forget that you are two seperate people. Cherish and affirm your differences. Love each other. Keep your commitment primary. Together you will laugh and cry, be sick and well, be happy and angry, share and grow. Grow sometimes together, sometimes separately. To symbolize the importance within the marriage and the joining of two lives into one entity, three colors of sand will now be layered into a base.
gift card from Bill to 
