Long Lost Friends under the Big Sky

Until July, I had never been to Montana.  We have friends, Hilarie and Craig, who have lived there for at least 22 years and every year in their annual Christmas card they have invited us to visit, and every year we have said, "some day".  Well, that day came!  We knew once we began this road trip that Montana had to be on the list!  We contacted our friends, whom we have not seen in over 25 years, and said, "remember that invitation to visit?  Is it still open?"  and they replied with an emphatic, "yes!".  We were going to Montana!

Montana is beautiful and the Big Sky moniker is appropriate!  Driving from South Dakota into Montana and all the way to Bozeman is a mesmerizing drive along I-90.  It still amuses me that after spending most of my life living along the I-10 corridor that I am seeing its northern, less populated, more beautiful (in my opinion) equivalent up close and personal.  I continue to be amazed at the vast amount of land in our country and its varied landscapes.  We have also been blessed with abundant blue skies as a backdrop.  As a person who would rather sit in a crowded, germ infested airplane than take a long road trip, this venture has certainly surprised me.  Yes, there have been days that I feel road weary and my backside is numb from all of the sitting but on a whole the beauty outside the windshield has completely distracted me!

Beautiful windshield time

I can't tell you how many times we have said, "how far do you think that is?"
Heading to the mountains!

If you have not seen someone in over 20 years there is bound to be a bit of  uncertainty heading into a visit.  How have they changed...how have we changed, will this be awkward...will we still like each other?  Hilarie and I met back in college before we even knew our current spouses.  We worked together at a department store in Baton Rouge.  When we met our husbands-to-be, they also became friends and the rest is history.  You know those cute quotes that say a real friend is one you can go ages without seeing and pick up like it was yesterday?  It is true!  We were all back in our 20's, fresh out of college and newly married again!  I sat in amazement, they had not changed and I am sure neither have we.  I thought to myself, " Wow!  Our 20 year old selves sure did have good taste when it came to making friends".  After the obligatory catching up on our kids, careers, moves, parents, and siblings we relived old memories and made a few new ones.  We have promised not to wait another 20 years before we see each other again.

As luck would have it Bozeman, MT also happens to be the home of Marathon Girl and her family.  She recently had her 3rd child and her parents, our very good friends, Bob and Donna, of anniversary trip fame, were there to help with the growing family.  We were able to meet the new little baby boy, share some delicious pizza (outside and from a "safe" distance) and see where the Marathon family lives.  They have a great house with that big Montana sky as a backdrop.  

Getting 5 people to look in one direction and smile at the same time
proved to be a challenge but still pretty cute with a little help!

One special night in Bozeman was spent having dinner at Hilarie and Craig's house with Bob and Donna as special guests.  The night proved that we definitely have great taste in friends!  Aside from the good food and the stunning big sky, the company was the best!  We sat outside, ate, drank, shared stories of times spent together, marveled at the sky and laughed until it was too late.  It turns out all three couples were married in 1978 within 7 weeks of each other.  We are all still married!  The summer of '78 was a good year for marriage.  I hope you too are able to make lasting friendships like these, they are priceless.  

And be careful about inviting us to visit....we may just take you up on it!

Some of the many colors of the Big Sky 
taken in our friend's back yard!

Socially distant photo

Not so distant photo...we held our breath!

We watched a storm come and go!

I think we found the pot of gold here.

Hello and Goodbye

This week I had the profound experience of saying goodbye to one life and hello to a new life.  Within one week, a good friend of mine was taken from this world and a baby was born into our extended family.  Life and death, opposite ends of this journey through life.

My friend had cancer, but in the end it was not the cancer that caused her death, it was complications from a fall... an accident.  We all assumed that eventually the cancer would win but it was not at that point yet, so we were all caught a bit off guard by her passing. We were not ready.   If you have gone to church lately, you know that many of the readings have been about keeping alert, staying awake, because we do not know the time or the place when God will come.  "The day of the Lord will come like a thief."  "Watch therefore---for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning---lest he come suddenly and find you asleep."  These words remind us to do our best and live a life pleasing to God.  Our friend lived her life to the fullest, she never let it get her down...for long. She was a force of nature with a raspy voice, who made you feel cared for and had an exuberance that was infectious.  Even if we were not ready, I think she might have been and I am sure she is looking down on us from a much better place...and eating a little chocolate.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, a baby boy was born.  One life taken and another given.  A precious, innocent, beautiful little boy was born.  His life is before him.  There is so much happiness and love surrounding him.  So, while the world is less one wonderful woman, it has a new little boy to make us all smile and give us hope.

Welcome to the world Sam!

A Run Down Memory Lane

I took a run this past weekend on a well worn path from my past.  It brought back lots of memories and was just as nice as I remember it being.  If you are a walker or a runner you probably have your favorite routes.  I am a creature of habit when it comes to my exercise routines.  I map out a path of about 3 or 4 miles and have shortcuts for those "easy" days and long cuts for the "challenge" days.  I usually have two or three different routes from my house, wherever that house happens to be.  I have them here in Sugar Land, I had other paths when we lived here last time, I had my routes in Toronto and I had them in Columbus, Ga when we lived there.  They all  hold a special place in my heart because I do a lot of thinking when I run or walk, so it isn't just about the exercise.

This past weekend we were back in Columbus, Georgia.  I found myself drawn to take a run almost as soon as we got into town.  The beautiful fall weather and travelling for 7 or 8 hours might have had something to do with my need to get some exercise!  I got my iPod and drove to one of my all time favorite places to run, Cooper Creek Park.  We used to live a block from this park and I spent many hours walking and running the paths around that park.  I had happy runs, sad runs, cold runs, hot runs, easy runs, challenging runs, wet runs, runs I wish would never end and ones I could not get through fast enough (or slow enough in my case).  I watched my kids run cross country races on those paths.  Wow, it was a very nostalgic trip around the park for me, I must be getting old!  I also had a personal challenge to see if I could make it all the way around the park without stopping, like I used to when I was younger and thinner.....I made it!  Won't say it was easy, but it was not as hard as it could have been.  I cued up one of my old running mixes on the iPod and had an excellent run down memory lane! 

Did I mention the beautiful fall weather?

We visited with old friends and picked up like it was last week instead of a year or two ago when we last saw them.  When you live in one place for 11 or 12 years and raise four children in a small close knit community, you make a lot of friends... close friends.  Thank goodness we still get to visit them every now and then.  And thank goodness they keep welcoming us back!


Indulge me one more paragraph....

We went to mass at our old church this weekend too.  As I knelt and sat, listened, sang and prayed, I found myself thinking of all the masses we attended in that church.  Twelve years of Sunday masses, countless school masses, the occasional daily mass, 3 graduations and baccalaureates, four 8th grade graduations, 4 Confirmations, two First Communions and First Reconciliations, plus weddings and funerals for friends, it boggles the mind!  That is a lot of praying and thinking in one place!  I know there are a lot of people who have gone to the same church for almost their entire lives, do they appreciate what they have?  What a special place that church has in our lives, it saw us through good times and bad.  It was very cool to just sit and think about all of the praises and problems we handed over to God at that church during our time in Columbus.  Amen!

We were more than happy to visit!

The "Scotia Woman" Response

After this post my friends/relatives showed up to dinner at the farmhouse last night dressed like this.......

In full Scotia Woman regalia, complete with their own artwork, hair put up using clothespins, wearing no make-up, carrying home baked dessert along with Scotsburn ice cream and donning the classic yellow slicker and rubber boots!

-Scotia Women have a great sense of humor!

You mean people really read this stuff??!!

Thanks girls!!!!