Thank you again, God!

Somehow I am awake. We were up late. Sweetie and Bug are still in bed. I am enjoying water and motrin as I upload my photos from last night. It all still seems a blur. I am so thankful for this year. This scary year of the Boar. You see BestFriend declared this to be the year of doing scary things, as it is the year of the Boar. More on that at my year end recap. Yesterday was a big day for me. I was going to do a new 5k and reunite with a friend that I have not seen since 1992, yes the same year Sweetie and I met. First some back story. She was a friend of Brothers, as I have said before. She was his roommate and quickly became one of the family. She was 5 years older than me, and to a 15 year old, that is older - the irony being that BestFriend and she are the same age. She was the older sister I never had. She had a huge impact on my life. Then circumstances were as they were and she moved away. The catch is there was no goodbye. For many years I had trouble with this. I dreamt about her, I was angry with her. Then time passes, life happens, you grow up, and suddenly though everything is not known, it is understood.

Last night was the 5k. We planned this as our reuniting place. It was a fun and healthy place to meet. Let's be honest, it was neutral and safe. She had a shitty week and I was worried that circumstances as they were, she would not make it. Things were different as originally planned. She and I did not meet up at the start, parking for the event was HORRIBLE, but this is a happy post so I will not go into that. She was not up for the walk so she brought her family to cheer me on and to meet up at the end.

Sweetie and BestFriend ran, and did awesome might I add. I pushed Bug in her stroller. Thanks to cellular technology, I saw her as I passed the starting line. I saw she was with her family. It was real. The first mile is getting over to the lights. That is the fastest I have ever done a mile. I even did quite a bit of running - not a lot by normal people standards, but a lot for me. Then we got to the lights, I didn't run and I we enjoyed the lights, but meeting up with this person keep me going. At the end of the lights was an optional exit. I could tell Bug was getting antsy. She loved the lights, but she wanted to go out and touch them - silly 'ol Bug. The last mile did not have lights so I knew she would be bored. And since I didn't even start my stop watch - how very very very unlike me - we opted to stop. We waited at the designated meeting point for BestFriend. Sweetie was going backwards on the trail to find us, and of course we weren't there. That is the only bad part of stopping early. After I cooled off, and composed myself, I called T to let her know I was at the tree.

And there she was. In real life. We hugged, I met her family. Her youngest, 6 months older than Bug, took to me the minute he saw me. And Bug didn't mind sharing - which she is good about at school, but this was different. BestFriend and Sweetie were there as my rocks. Without them I would have chickened out. It was so very special to see this person again after so long. We all went to dinner. We chatted and had fun. Sweetie offered for them to come back to our house. And something different happened. I didn't freak out because the house wasn't picture perfect. I welcomed them over. Something is a changin' in these here parts. BestFriend couldn't stay as she had some single girl plans, which I hope she had a great time. We had a great visit. There were tears, happy tears. Sweetie kept T's husband, JM, and her two teenagers happy with our Wii. And Bug has her new friend, Doodle. She loves him and kept saying his name. This is the first time she has really had a kid her age in our home and playing with her toys. She was amazing.

Oh and no worries when you count the walk to and from when we parked, I did more than a 5k's worth of distance.

Here is BestFriend with Bug after the race, hope she doesn't kill me for posting a pic of her sweaty - she just ran a 5k:Here
Here is BestFriend after the race: Even the kids felt the urge to do something healthy: And the best part of having a boy as a friend - you can put buckets on their head:Thank you Brother for finding her on the M*y S*pa*ce crack and contacting her. Thank you God for not taking her on Friday. I am so thankful she is here. I am so thankful this year for those in my life. I am thankful to be surrounded by such strength.

As we drifted off to sleep last night Sweetie asked me if I was happy, "Yes" I answered with a smile bright enough to light the darkened room.