Friendship

I find myself at 30 something with little spare time to spend with friends, as I am busy with my children right now.  But I do understand the importance of having them, and I relish that.  Just last week, I had to stay home from church with two sick children, and one of my friends from the choir dropped by to give me a new Starbucks salty caramel chocolate mochacchino...I think that's what it's called... and a muffin.  She also brought my son some hot chocolate.  That act of kindness and friendship meant a great deal to me and brightened my day in a way which she may never know.  I hope that all my children discover the importance of friendship, and I think my oldest child may have already.

Nyssa has discovered the art of the telephone.  She has always enjoyed playing with it and talking on it when Grandma calls, but last night she brought her whole telephone experience to a new level.  Isn't she a little too young for this?  She's only six years old!

Around 8:15 last night, I was downstairs getting a couple things taken care of when I heard her coming down the stairs.  She was supposed to be in bed.  I heard her talking and assumed at first that she was speaking to me, but then I heard another voice, which did not belong to any of my children.  When I saw her with the phone, my immediate thought was that she was talking to my mother.  The next thing that popped into my head was that the phone hadn't rung. 

I asked her who she was talking to, and she answered, very nonplussed, that she had called one of her best friends from kindergarten.  They are no longer in the same classroom, so she missed her little friend and had called her.  Nyssa has kept her class directory in her room ever since she got it, so she very easily took the phone off its hook in the hallway and dialed the number.

She was supposed to be in bed.  Obviously, she wasn't.  Thankfully, any time Nyssa has talked on the phone, I have set it on speaker mode, so Nyssa had it that way last night.   Of course, that was how I discovered she was on the phone in the first place.

I did have to tell Nyssa to tell her friend good night as it was past her bed time, and she passed the phone on to me and went on her way to bed.  It made for a very enjoyable conversation with the sweet little girl's mother about how quickly they grow up.  The situation was also made easier by the fact that her mother and I get along tremendously well.  We marveled at the whole concept of a 6 year old calling her friend at, for her, the wee hours of the night to have a little girlfriend's chat.  We also hoped that their friendship will continue to blossom through time.

You never know how much a friendship can mean to you until you are alone in your room, unable to sleep, and think of the one person you miss that might bring some comfort.  I have a very dear friend who I met when I was 4 and she was 3.  We've stayed in contact all through the years and we've seen each other through thick and thin.  We don't talk every day, and sometimes go years without seeing one another, but we always pick right back up where we left off and know we can count on each other.  I wrote a poem about her back in my junior year of high school when, interestingly enough, her mother was my English teacher.  I think I was in college before I actually gave it to her, after a particularly rough patch.

True friendship is hard to find,
Bound by the spirit and not the mind
A treasure so vast and yet so rare
That few have found a journey's end there.
A tie between spirits, that's all it is.
But, oh, so much greater when mingled with His.
For He is the One that binds us together
Through every hailstone and each falling feather.
At every crook, wall, road, and bend,
Our spirits will soar, one with the wind.
Without your friendship, whatever would I do?
For this special friendship, my dear,
Is found with you.

We all need that.  Every single one of us needs someone we can turn to for the good and the bad.  We need someone to rejoice with us, to cry with us, and occasionally to get us back on the right track.  My daughter is only 6 years old, but she realizes that concept.  Her friend realizes it, too.  She is a very sweet girl in her own right, and I hope their friendship can last the test of time.

Never underestimate the power of friendship.  It can be a joy, it can be a rocky road.  It can be a rock.  It can be a life line.  It can be the very thing that helps you through your day.