Connections

We can go for months and sometimes years without seeing or speaking to each other and then one of us picks up the phone and we connect. The call feels like sitting together over a glass of sweet tea or a glass of wine just being together before miles separated us. The kids are older and have kids of their own in my case. She is just growing into the mother-in-law role. My husband is newly an at-home guy. Hers has been working successfully from home for years. Their reasons for being at home differ, but as we talk, I realize our concerns are the same. We talked of common things and the not so common. We talked so long that her phone battery suffered a silent death. I've been accused of having mouth the "Ever-ready Bunny" would envy, so I was happy that it was _her_ phone and not mine.

I have not always been the friend to her that I should have been. There was a time that I know now when I could and should have reached out more when I suspected that she was suffering. Letting it go and preferring to not get too involved is the mistake I apologized for making. She understood, especially now that I am the one who needs the comfort. At least she won't have to ever apologize to me for the same sin. Sometimes life gets in the way of doing the right thing. I hope to never let that happen again. Being kind to each other and standing up for one another is what friends should do, but we don't always do it. My good old sense of southern sensibility got in the way. My mother would be proud and ashamed of me at the same time. That is surely a concept that most of the rest of the world wouldn't understand, but in the south we do understand.

Friends are important. We pick them much like flowers because we like them. Sometimes they smell good and reward us with their beauty. We gather bouquets around us and enjoy them. Like flowers; friendship blooms. Our call and the connection is the rose in my bouquet.