Wanna Be Friends?

Playgrounds teach me a lot about life & about the perspective I have on it.

Summer allows for a lot of lessons then since we’ve been to the park countless times.

With pebbles crunching loudly under her pink tennis shoes, she runs to my daughter without hesitation.  No fear of rejection.  Not caring what the answer will be….she asks ‘Wanna Be Friends?’ 

And off they went.  Laughter filling the air as soft clouds roll over head.  They swing & slide.  Pretend & play.  And a friendship is made.

Each one of them offers the other happiness in that moment.  In that place & time, their hearts are full. 

There is no worry of popularity or socioeconomic status.  They are blind to skin color and religion.  They don’t even ask if the other drives a Barbie jeep or an Escalade with 2 seats.  It doesn’t matter.

All they hope for is an afternoon filled with building castles in the sand & someone to catch them at the bottom of the slide.  They share juice boxes & goldfish crackers & when it’s time to go, they wave goodbye…with smiles that span from ear to ear.  They have showcased a sweetness that settles on my heart in a way that my much older soul has not felt for a while.

I have been hurt before by a lot of friends for a lot of different reasons.  And in that hurt, those protective walls go up to make a barrier around my heart.  Friendships become more complex & it shouldn’t be that way.

It should be as easy as just reaching out & asking the question….and then letting the afternoon take you somewhere magical.  Where it may not be castles in the sand that we build but a lifelong friendship that fills up our souls.  And when we fall & get hurt, when we need someone to catch us at the bottom of the slide…we know they will be there.  Even if we don’t talk on the phone every day or see each other but a few times a year because life & work & kids….happen in the meantime.

I have good friends now.  My heart is in a different place.  And at the end of each day now, I also smile ear to ear when I think of how blessed I am for the friends that I talk to on a daily basis & also for those that I see once in a blue moon.  When our KIDS are sharing juice boxes & goldfish on the playground as we catch up after way too long of not seeing one another.