What do you take with you when you go? I mean more than hand bags, wallets, keys and coffee cups. I've been noticing, remembering, pondering all the places I have been and what I've taken with me when I left. Some of it is knowledge, memories, joys, sorrows. Some is pain, longing, regret.
But there is also something much larger I take with. It is the people I've been in relationship with along the way. It's a wonderful tribe of people who have walked different parts of life with me. I'm not talking thousands of people, I'm talking those cherished ones who enter your life, make a difference, build a strong bond, and change you in the process. You may only reach out to them at Christmas time, or you may connect with them regularly. Either way the ties that bind you hold fast and true.
With these people I could create a dream team of crazy dog people. A dream team to run the world's most fun (read - irreverent, yet highly productive) flower shop. A dream team of friends who hold your head above water. A dream team who lift you in prayer. A dream team of people who walk with you in grief, and in celebration. A dream team of kids, and their amazing friends. A country living, life is good team. A gardening team, cooking team, comedy team, cocktail connoisseur team and porch sittin team. Let us not forget the car pool team of long ago. Saints on wheels I tell you. So many teams, so little time.
Then there are the hard life lesson teams. The let's never go there again team. The what the hell was I thinking team. The, oh shit, that didn't go as planned team. The I'm learning healthy boundaries team. The well.....single looks pretty good team. Life is a mixed bag of education, in the classroom, and in daily life. In good times and in bad.
There is only one way to take them with you. You tuck them into your heart and walk into new adventures. Tuck them safely in, savor them, give thanks for them, and pray your paths cross again. Because they are part of what makes you, you. God bless them for that.
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