Love Letter To My Girlfriends

So I have a girlfriend named "Liz" (there's an epidemic of Liz's in my life) who I received the following email from this morning:

This morning on the way to school Jane said, "I'll be a unicorn someday."

I nodded.  It's a solid plan for a three year old.

"But I'm going to have a lady face" she added.

Again, solid plan.  Who doesn't like a unicorn with a pretty face?

"And then I'll lose my tooths," she stated, poking her front teeth with her finger.

This is the part of the conversation where things started to go off the rails a bit.

"No, you won't lose your teeth for a long time," I tried to explain, but she wasn't having it.

"I will!" she insisted vehemently.  "I will lose my tooths, and then steal other little girls' tooths."

"I thought you were going to be a lady face unicorn," I asked.  I couldn't help it.

She considered this, and agreed, "Yes, I will.  And I will steal other unicorns' tooths."

"It's teeth.  It's plural," I said, because frankly, I was at a loss for how to respond anymore and it seemed safest to stick to immovable facts.

"Yes.  Teeth.  And I will steal them, and hide them in my stove, and cook them later." she nodded, apparently satisfied that we'd reached a mutual grammar agreement and an understanding about the fate of any future teeth that fall into her hands.

"Hey, look at those birds up there," I pointed to a really timely and convenient flock flying over the freeway.

She smiled silently and watched them.

SCORE.  I'd managed to stop the lady-face-unicorn-teeth-cooking conversation in its tracks with a simple diversionary "hey look at that over there" tactic.

She kept smiling sweetly, gazing up at the birds, and then I heard her whisper, "Hey little birds, I can see your tooths."

This was beautiful.  Beautiful because Jane is adorable....she is hilarious....she is a bit frightening.....just like all the other women in my life.  And I wouldn't trade a single one of them for nothing!  Nope....not nothing.

I long to be like Jane, the 3-year old above.  I long to be like her because she aimed high....she went for the unicorn and nothing....tooths....birds....MOM....was getting in her way of achieving that lofty goal.

I love strong, aim-for-the-sky-nothings-getting-in-my-way fearless women....and I love FUN women.....who don't take themselves too seriously....who will lay on the train tracks for a photo-op....who give me the hiccups laughing during lunch at Mi Cocita's with napkin art....who can jump in the Jeep, hanging on for dear life as I manage to make roads where they weren't any....and laugh till tears run down their face.  I love that God hand-picked each of these women to walk this journey with me....even during the not-so-fun times.  I am desperate to learn how to "play-well-with-others" that are different from me......and to love them BIG.  Yes Yes....I want to LOVE them BIG!

I'm rambling, I know......but I just wanted to write my girlfriends a love note (and the women girlfriends in my family are at the extreme top of this list) and tell them how much they are TREASURED.....how undeserving I am of their love for me....and how crazy unicorn-aiming-heaven-sent they are.  I love you.

My Word For The Year........(HINT: It's FUN!)

January 10, 2015

 So over the past few years, every January 1 there has been a lot of chatter in certain women's groups about "Your Word For The Year"........and as I would roll my eyes and say out loud to no one, "Seriously, what does that mean anyway?"......and then promptly answer myself with, "Oh, its just a bunch of women making up some nice-sounding spiritual words to define themselves for the year.....or the month.....or the week until they soon forget about having a word." 

Yep, that's what I thought......UNTIL......

 I decided to have a "Word" this year.  Yep......I'm going to be one of "those women" who choose a word for 2015.  And it's not going to be the standard good Christian words that most of these women are picking like HOPE, FAITH, GIVE, THANKFUL, etc.  I'm actually "stealing" my word from Jenni Allen and my word is

"FUN". 

See, I used to be a lot of fun.....or at least, I thought I was.  I carried FUN in my pocket pretty much every where I went.....I threw caution to the wind and did bold and FUN things regularly.  I didn't take life too seriously and I laughed a spunky from-the-gut Ant Ellie laugh....most every day.  But somewhere along the journey of finding God and finding what I believed and finding my place with Him, I lost my fun.  Completely misplaced my friend, FUN.

Ant Ellie

Now I'm not blaming God for misplacing my FUN....nope....not His fault.  I feel quite sure He knows how to have fun and play practical jokes and do crazy cool things like turning water into wine and eating grain on the Sabbath with a little crooked smile on His face while everyone stood there in shock.  I think, for Him, that WAS fun.  


So over the past few years, I've been desperately missing this friend of mine called "FUN".  I've been baffled over why when I discovered a God I never knew before in my life, did FUN take a hike?  What I discovered is that I have been living a lot of my life FOR God instead of WITH God.  Let that soak in for a minute....or two....or ten.  

I want 2015 to be the year that God and I, TOGETHER, have fun roller skating down Eagle Cove or singing Proud Mary at the Pittsburg Pizza Inn Karaoke Night, laughing that bigger-than-life Ant Ellie laugh until we hiccup....never caring who hears us or the bruises we get, together, when we fall off our skates.  



2015 is going to be the year I find my FUN again.

So on this nasty, gray, wintry day in January,  I think I'm going to go bundle up Charlie.....hop on his lap and pop some wheelie's in his wheelchair down Eagle Cove.....blowing cold-air-smoke in the air with our laughs.....knowing all along.......Jesus is roller skating right behind us.