Thank You, God, for friends!

Last night, friends of ours, Dawn & Julio, came over for dinner and to play games. We decided around Thanksgiving of last year that we'd give game night a try and see how we liked it. We discovered we loved it!

Since then, when all four of us are available, we get together for dinner and games on a Saturday night. Dawn and I decide on the menu ahead of time, and then on Saturday, Francisco and I clean our house and I work on the appetizers and whatever our contributions are for dinner. Dawn and Julio come with their contributions and we have a lovely dinner.

Then we break out the games. After playing a number of different games, we've decided the Rummy Game is our favorite. It works like the card game, Rummy, but it's with tiles, and you can manipulate the runs (my favorite thing to lay down) and the 3-of-a-kinds (my husband's favorite thing to lay down) to create new runs or 3-of-a-kinds. It's a lot of fun, and uses left-brain thinking in order to play. Sometimes when someone goes out, they have just one tile left and they have to manipulate six or eight or even ten different groups in order to get rid of that one tile.

Last night, I won for the first time. In all the weeks we've been playing, I had not won. Not once! But last night, I had that one tile left and I had to manipulate a whole lot of things on the board to get rid of my tile. Even I was surprised! Actually, last night, everyone won. Francisco also won for the first time, and he won three times in a row! You can see that Dawn & Julio have been wiping up the floor with us, but we haven't cared. It's pretty terrific, and we all have a blast.

We met Dawn and Julio at Unity church about a year and a half ago. We instantly clicked. One reason is that both Dawn and Julio were raised in the Seventh-Day Adventist religion, as I was. We all went through the private schooling - including boarding schools (in high school), which is a pretty unique experience. There are things we share that is hard for others to understand unless they've experienced it, as well. Things like campmeeting. And vespers. And ingathering. Things like the Sabbath being Saturday, like the Jewish faith. See what I mean?

In addition, to find someone who had experienced the SDA world and was now at Unity was even more unusual. Because, like Seventh-Day Adventism, Unity is a unique faith. They're almost like the two opposite ends of the spectrum in the faith world. SDA on the right and Unity on the left. (Think conservative and liberal, and you've got it.)

As we got to know Dawn & Julio, we liked them more and more. Then Dawn asked me to officiate their wedding. I was honored. I wrote the service and they loved it. It was a beautiful service and I received some compliments on what I wrote. Dawn was a beautiful bride and Julio a handsome groom.

Dawn was working in New York at the time I was ordained, and she came to my ordination. She met my family and came to dinner with us afterward. I was incredibly grateful for her light-hearted, humorous stories after such an intense, powerful experience, and she made us all laugh.

I have been blessed with some wonderful friends throughout my life. People who have made a difference to me, who have helped me through some very dark times (thank you, Danielle! thank you, Kathleen! thank you, Betsy!). Friends who have talked with me on the phone for hours, sharing ideas and helping me move to a new place of understanding about a particular issue (again, thank you, all of you, and especially you, Danielle!).

This is the first time I've had a "couple" friend. When I was younger, I was busy raising my daughter, Christina, and so my friendships were friends I met being a parent. We shared ideas, and, since I homeschooled Christina for a number of years, we shared a common value. Then she grew up and my friends changed. Then we moved and again, my friends changed - although some remained very beautifully in place. But it is nice to have the physicality of friends to hang with and do things with.

Having a "couple" friend is different. The energy of all four needs to blend nicely, and everyone like everyone else. This does. The conversation needs to be interesting and fun. This is. The interests must be common. Ours are. Even our spiritual language is similar. This is pretty unusual, and I, for one, am grateful. It's a delightful experience having friends, and a new and fun experience for me having a "couple" friend. Both Francisco and I are pretty much home-bodies, so for the most part, we are very content to be together in our home.

It's nice to share ourselves with others. It's nice to welcome others in. Thank you, Dawn & Julio!