Friends

On the way home from our friends' house tonight, James remarked that for the first time since moving away from home, he's a little sad to be leaving for the holidays. Of course, we're very excited to see our families and are thrilled to be visiting them (and their warmer climates). But, at the same time, there are people in Wisconsin we will miss seeing, if only for a few weeks.

Almost from the moment we arrived in Wisconsin, we have been very blessed to find people with whom we connect. This was conspicuously missing from our childless, newlywed life in Virginia. We didn't fit the single law-student mold, nor did we do too well with the husband-in-law-school, wife-at-home-with-a-few-kids model. In Madison, however, we have many friends from all walks of life, who are happy to associate with us and enjoy both our similarities and differences. Perhaps we have changed, perhaps the people here are different, or perhaps it's just a another sign that, freezing or not, Madison is the place for us. Regardless, having done without for a while, we are very grateful for our abundance of friends with whom we connect on so many levels.

"Oh, the comfort -- the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person -- having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away."
Dinah Maria Craik