Queens for a Dinner!

So...how else did I recharge during my time off?  Get more green back in my world...??

Well...my one little word for the year if you remember is 'embrace'...

And the focus for February is Embrace My Health...not just for February...but I pick it up here...

Mental, physical, spiritual, emotional...(big task).  Just taking time off was addressing my mental health...but I bumped it up a notch...and went to  dinner with a friend...

but not just any friend...

(I'm also including photos from my Beyond Beyond - Day 3 class)

 

 

This introvert loves and adores people...but one-on-one, in small groups, or Edster and me out with another couple or two, at the most.  And I'm somewhat discerning (partly because if you enjoy people but aren't needy for people as some kind of way of filling up the empty parts of yourself...you can choose to spend quality time with  those you truly enjoy...who nurture you.  This is not to be equated with people you minister to or serve).

 

This friend I have spoken with and communicated over the past year...but it had been a long time since we were out together.  A long time...and if you knew both of our lives intimately you would understand why...(we both could be contestants on "Queen for a Day.")  (Sidebar:  for those of you who are aren't a baby boomer -- that was a game show where a women (about four) would come on and each give their sob story...and the audience would vote by applause for the most pathetic one.  The winner would be named Queen for a Day.  And what did she win?  New washers, dryers, pots, pans, kitchen appliances...and even girdles...so wrong on so many levels.  If think I'm kidding...you can check it out here.)

  

So both of us were Queens for dinner...our prize was quality time.

 

And where do we begin to catch up...our last names were both different, our children (who grew up together) were in different vocations, and yet...

 

In many ways, it was if no time had passed...because the connection remained...

 

Our greatest connection is our love for our Savior...the foundation...

 

But additionally...

 

...we had a long history of inside jokes...

      ...we both have random senses of humor...

             ...there's a depth that has come from adversity we've experienced

                  ...and we weaved in and out between sorrow and laughter easily and naturally.

 

 

So...we left...both of us...wanting more.  There were tons of questions and things I was curious about such as, "How did your daughter get into photography?" or "If you could do it all again would you change any of it?" or "What have you learned?"  or "Do your still really need more cowbell?"...

 

This was fellowship...this was nurturing...this energized me...quality over quantity will always be the theme of introverts in personal relationship...

 

It is these kind of relationships that we EMBRACE (there's that word)...

 

And just as if things couldn't get better...

 

I ordered Edster a sub sandwich to go...being from near Phillie, he's a connoisseur of subs...so after a night out with my fellow queen...he says, "This is the best sub I've had since I moved to Ohio..."

 

So I guess he was good with our time spent together, as well...