Tales from a Mid-Lifer

A lady I just met (literally ten minutes earlier), randomly started discussing how difficult it was to work with other women. We conversed about the whole ‘women helping women’ campaign and how she believed it was a myth – particularly in the workplace where the slogan beams loudest.

To have friends who genuinely lift you up when it doesn’t benefit them are treasures: Those who are honestly happy for you when things are going your way and share your burden when things aren’t. I am fortunate to have a couple people in my life who fit this description.

Last Galentine’s Day, I enjoyed a traditional afternoon tea with a cherished friend. In the last couple of years, we’ve grown closer. Curiously, our closeness increased outside of church and prayer groups where we were together for years. We started walking once a week two summers ago, being real about all we were experiencing in life. Despite the current thousand miles between us, we text, pray and when together, easily pick up where we left off.

While thinking about relationships this month, I recalled a favorite quote. I first read the piece nearly two decades ago. The words felt important in all forms of relationships, so I framed it. The full version below remained on my office desk for years.

It seems fitting to share this quote by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik as we celebrate Galentine’s and Valentine’s Day :

Oh, the comfort—the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person—having neither to weigh thoughts, nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.

I hope you have a trustworthy friend or family member who doesn’t fixate on measuring your words. Someone who shares life without judgement. Whether a Galentine or Valentine, may you have fun this weekend celebrating!

“Friendship … is born at the moment when one man says to another, “What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . .”
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves