caution: sap ahead

get ready for sap, mush, lovey dovey yuck.  like, lots of it.  if you're not in the mood for it, skip ahead... i know that there is a sarcastic and b*tchy post somewhere further down this blog.  in fact i'll gaurantee it.  or come back in a couple days, i bet i will have another one soon.  but for today, just  the good things in life, and the mushy sappy stuff.

'true friendship is a sacred, important thing, and it happens when we drop down into that deeper level of who we are, when we cross over into the broken, fragile parts of ourselves.  we have to give something up in order to get friendship like that... friendship is about risk.  love is about risk.  if we can control it and manage it and manufacture it, then it's something else, but if it is really love, really friendship, it's a little scary around the edges.'
~cold tangerines

oh gosh, are you buckled in for this one?  seriously, a whole new level of sappiness.

the further i get into this motherhood thing, the more critical i become of my own life.  i see every decision i make as an example for mason, and i, like all mothers i assume, want to set the best example possible. 

one of the areas i am most proud to have him witness are my friendships.  i'm not saying that i have done everything right, or that i am even responsible for these wonderful friendships, but i am proud to show them off. 

you know who you are.

the friendships that we have are, in my humble opinion, a 'little scary around the edges'.  we have been with each other through a lot, the beginnings and ends of relationships, weddings and babies, rodeos and cross country, even cross continent moves, new loves and new homes.  it hasn't always been pretty, and i am sure there have been times when you haven't liked me much, but we have loved each other through it all.  through the times when we were not quite ourselves, not necessarily exactly the person that we orginally became friends with.

we have all had to give something up to build what this has become, we have had to give up the safety net, the veil that protects the real parts of us.  it took time and work and talking and crying and laughing, but it was worth it.

if mason learns nothing else from me, i hope he learns to protect his heart, but to also fiercely and wrecklessy love, not only his family, but his friends, and in time they become family too.