Wind Blows Deeply

Jared wrote recently…

But the funny thing about friends is that too often you only appreciate them when they are leaving. It’s only then that you realize they had become a significant part of your life, something you had relied on . . . and without them you feel a bit more rickety than you did before. You realize that you are just an old house on stilts that didn’t realize how important that stilt was until it fell. And now, without that friend, it’s a tricky balancing act to stay upright.

A friend of mine is in the process of filling out applications requiring references that go back for years–which made me wonder if I could think of a similar list in my own life. There is a friend from high school and another from university and one from church. These are folks I’ve known for years yet they are not the ones closest to me–in fact, we’ve be out of touch for a good period of time somewhere in the middle of it all. The closest ones I have only known for 3-5 years. Perhaps I am more transient that I think. For sometimes I feel quite solitary in my little ocean. So, please sail by sometime and drop anchor.

It’s taken me all of today but it has finally happened. Two minutes ago I smiled. Not the sort of smile one puts on for public display or in order to provide a socially acceptable greeting. The smile that happens when all appears to be well with the world, when one is in the comforting cup of God’s hand.
And I know, in that deepest place of my soul, that it is all ok. My world may not be just how I want it–my job may have stresses, Mr. Potential-Husband may not appeared on my doorstep with ring in hand, my company may have gone home and my future plans may all be up in the air–but, right now at this moment, I am fine with how things are.

While I should be studying for a certification exam at work, I have instead been catching up with old friends and searching for new music. I found a little slip of paper on my desk on which I’d written “Ootischenia”. It can be found on track four of the Be Good Tanyas’ latest disc, Hello Love. A catchy little tune that is now stuck firmly in my head.
That’s another thing I miss about my trip to Africa … it was thoroughly saturated with music. Local music–a mix of reggae, calypso and traditional rhythms. Singing around the house. Whatever happened to be in the taxi’s tape player. Martin’s Christmas music in the van (think Walking in a winter wonderland in 35+ Celsius [~100 F] afternoon sun). Making up endless top 20 lists complete with sleeper tracks. And it all so very varied: Pink Floyd to worship songs to Manowar. Just one more Gambian tidbit.