If you have read any of my random thoughts this year, you know that our move from NYC this year was really tough on me personally. Of course, giving birth to a child, flying down to pick out a new house 14 days later and adjusting to another member of the family - these in and of themselves are challenges. But honestly, alot of people move and have kids - nothing special. For me, however, the past year has been the hardest on me at the personal level - something I have not been able to really get my arms around and work through. What was wrong with me? I have moved before! Certainly leaving Atlanta after being there for 9 years was tough - why was this so much more agonizing for me? My trip to NYC last week I specifically planned to be about 6 months after we moved here and the timing was right. I realized that why I have been grieving so much was not so much missing the city but the relationships that I left behind. There were certain people that I connected with at a level that I have never had connection like before in my life - people who became lifelong friends very fast - they understood me and got me - they were ok with my quirks and my strange ideas and artistic tendencies (that is putting it mildly!). I started talking on Sunday night and didn't stop till Thursday afternoon! Yeah, we did some of my favorite things in the city - going to Union Square, eating good Chinese, trying a new restaurant (The Bar Room at MOMA) - all of that was great, but my time talking with my friends was the highlight. It was so great to hear how God was working in their lives and how they have grown as people in the last 6 months and then for me to share what my life was like now.. That is what I missed - seeing them grow through the good and bad and sharing my life with them. So to my friends in NYC (and you know who you are) thank you for helping me to understand and to really have a much needed finality to my questions...I have felt like a different person since being home in Hilton Head. You guys mean so much to me and I am so excited to see how you continue to grow through life and your journey with God...thank you for the investment you have made and will continue to make through the miles in my life as friends...till we see each other again...God be with us all wherever He leads us...
"As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend." Prov 27:17