30 Days of Thankfulness ~ Day 29

We got to spend more time with all of our family today. We visited Nathan's grandma at her home and then checked out all the changes Nathan's brother and his wife have been making to their house. We ended up back at my parents' house where the boys napped and the Apple cup was watched by the men in the house. My mom and I had a rare opportunity to sit with a cup of tea and have a heart to heart. That just doesn't happen anymore with little kids constantly interrupting our visit.

I'm so thankful for these kinds of chats, whether they are with my mom or a friend. They don't happen as often as I'd like anymore, but when they do they are something I relish with everything in me. Before having kids it was easy to swing by my mom's house after work and make any chat one of these heart to hearts. It was easy to meet a friend at a coffee shop and have hours slip away as if they were minutes while you feel like you've just started talking when now it is time to leave. I still get heart to heart talks like this on occasion even with kids, but they tend to come in the form of coffee or tea in a living room strewn with toys, and instead of nice music in the background the sound of children playing (or bickering) is heard instead. There are interruptions, and time goes by even faster, but it is in these intimate moments with friends that discoveries are made about ourselves and each other. Opportunities are presented to pray for one another, to help one another, to laugh or cry with one another, or just say "I've been there".

So whether it is over coffee or tea, in a relaxing coffee shop or a toy strewn living room, I am thankful for those conversations with friends that go beyond the day to day happenings of life into the deepest heart of hearts.