Friends Here:Friends There

So, I am a little lonely.

Our first holiday of sorts, Halloween is tomorrow, and I feel homesick. I want to go to Johnny’s neighborhood, smell her Chuck Wagon soup and corn bread as we enter to shouts of hellos,  drink diet Dr. Pepper on the rocks in insulated glasses and have our girls trick-or-treat together.

I miss the continuity of knowing what we do and how we do it.

And the baby who’s been most heartsick is also now down with the flu, so we don’t know if she will be able to trick-or-treat at all.

It’s been one illness or another with at least one of us since before we moved, and I am tired of unrest.

We haven’t had a day yet when no one has cried.

Ontop of a little lonely, I guess I’m a little tired too.

My PMA has PMS!

I miss normal and we haven’t had time to build it Here yet.

As such, I am a bit romantic about There tonight and the relational differences:

 

Friends Here: Never accept the offer to bring food.

Friends There: Bring Bodo bagels and cream cheese when your baby is sick.

 

Friends Here: Nod a polite hello across the room

Friends There: Run across the room to give a bear hug and kiss.

 

Friends Here: Know you have kids.

Friends There: Come to their birthday parties with gifts, play every, silly game and eat the cake with too much icing too.

 

Friends Here: Think you cry a lot.

Friends There: Expect you to cry, pass the tissues, hold you, and cry with you.

 

Friends Here: Remember whose turn it is.

Friends There: Never keep score.

 

Friends Here: Will help you clear the table before they leave.

Friends There: Will clean your house and man your yard sale at 5:00 a.m.

 

Friends Here: Know very little about us.

Friends There: Archive our history and roast us with silly stories about our family.

 

Friends Here: Ask where you’ve been when you come back after an unexpected absence.

Friends There: Track you down, pick you up, and get you back on course.

 

Friends Here: Wait to chat with you until after the baby is down for a nap.

Friends There: Crawl into bed on the other side of the baby and whisper updates as the precious naps.

 

Friends Here: Arrive on-time, by invitation only.

Friends There: Come as catch can, knowing anytime is a good time.

 

Friends Here: Will bring a casserole to your house if someone is in the hospital.

Friends There: Will take your kids into their own homes because they know you’re not leaving the hospital, set-up a schedule to make certain your laundry gets done and you come home to a clean house, and then come spend the night shift with you in the hospital so you’re not up all night praying alone.

 

Friends Here: Have your number in their iphone

Friends There: Have your address, birthday and Starbucks order memorized.

 

But the biggest difference is:

 

Friends Here: Are brand new and shiny. You still put make-up on before you meet with them.

Friends There: Are like old slippers. They expect you messy, wrinkled and intensely real.

 

I pray for the heart to love my friends Here with the same fidelity I share with my friends There.

Like many of you, I remember that I found some of my dearest friends There when I “wasn’t looking for friends.”

Now that I am, I appreciate even more the friends There that claimed me, especially as I was one homely, BFF candidate.

I simply Trust that as He planted me here, He will tend me carefully and bless me in time with new community.

I Trust Him.

I admit I am a little lonely only to reinforce my commitment to show people Here who I am -just like you taught me.

 

I did my best, it wasn’t much
I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch
I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I’ll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah!