Connected

This Sunday, I had a refreshing conversation with a really cool lady. We don't know each other whatsoever but we connected right away. Isn't it funny how you can knock yourself over with trying to make some friendships gel while others just spark to life over watermelon slices and a paper plate?

This one sparked to life.

She used words like faith, open, mystic, love and immediately I knew she probably kissed her dog on its face too. We won't see each other again, but that's the point. Connection doesn't necessitate longevity.

This really cool lady and I decided that life strings some of us, as people, to each other at just the right time even if the moment feels all wrong.

Case in point: When I first arrived here in Virginia, I was slow to meet other moms. My neighborhood is filled with them only they are at work during the day while I am at home with kids and fourteen hours to fill before bedtime. Zoom ahead a year and I find myself at a playdate with three new-to-me preschool moms. One of which was very outgoing. She was the ringleader, the spokesperson, the one I shied away from.  Andy had just left for a year long deployment, I was reserving energy, and needed quiet companionship.  Gregarious felt wrong for me.

Zoom ahead three years and this mom is now one of the four soul sisters I rely on here. We have spent so much time together that she can tell if something's wrong by how I exit my car. I can hear her thoughts when her mouth isn't talking much. We connected when I least really wanted to. And now, the path of our lives is forever intertwined through coffee, blue frosting, Marshall's, burlap burn where the sun don't shine (tube slides), play date wine, and so much more.

Some friendships are connected for life. Others are brief conduits on our way to someone else. Others still smolder in preparation for a future that will unfold in its own due time.

If I've learned anything from being me the last four years, I've learned to appreciate the system as it happens naturally. Not to force the ones that make you feel uneasy. Not to worry over or mourn friendships that may not have an organic foundation anyway. 

You can always tell when it does have promise. She'll use words like mystic, faith, open, love, or your version of meaningful. 

Sometimes the best connections happen when we least expect or even want them to.  Personally, I think it's because we're not the ones in charge of the system.