Bling of a Different Sort

Sorry for double posting, but I have to share with you what I got in the mail today. A box with two adorable winter outfits for Owen from Gymboree, and some New Balance shoes for him (which I thought ironic given the subject of my last two emails to both April and Liz about that very company!), plus some really, really nice jewelry. Including a beautiful ring, delicate and feminine, that says "mommy," which I am already wearing and hoping that she didn't include it by accident, it is that pretty. I am wearing it on the finger I wore a wedding band on in a different life, and I imagine that it is the closest I am ever going to come to having a ring on that finger.

Anyway, thank you, FreedomFirst. This woman was one of my friends on the online community I got forced out of for being a loudmouth bitch (I know, that is really quite surprising, isn't it?), and when I git the boot, she was still my friend. We have exchanged emails, and she reads my blog and we keep up-and even though we don't always agree about politics OR religion, I consider her a good friend, and I think she does me. This gift came at a perfect time, when I just very much needed something sweet and kind to make me smile.

Wally Lamb, who is one of my favorite authors, wrote in She's Come Undone, "Accept what people offer. Drink their milkshakes. Take their love." My best-friend-even-though-she-doesn't-know-it, Anne Lamott, said something along the lines of needing God with skin on, and when she prays that, she always runs into or meets up with someone who is serving God through their selves, even if they don't know it. And this is what this gift means to me-that everyone in my life is reaching out to give me their love, be it through the mail or email or phone calls, or comments on the blog. That instead of questioning and wondering why people like me so much, I should just say an enormous, heartfelt thank you and accept it.