Dancing with a Friend

Brecca called me one evening last year asking "What ya doin'  right now, are you busy?" I paused for a moment by the kitchen sink to think about it "Oh just doing the dishes...Why?" She exclaimed "Come dancing with me! I want to get back into Zumba and you would LOVE IT!" I giggled at her excitement as I say "Okay, Sure, why not?"    That evening as she hugged me at the door of the gym she said "You will love this! It's all about just having fun no worries if you can keep up or not but it's such a good workout too!"  As I nervously took my spot on the wide open floor an arm length away each other in the group we started dancing and I never felt so alive in having so much fun even though I was always a step or two maybe more like 6 steps behind the rest but it was so exciting, so energizing and simply truly just for FUN! Brecca has always had such talent in acting, in dancing and performing in many public skits and plays, her many facial expressions and ability to laugh at herself has always made my working with her back in the day although more wonderful! We became such good friends that I now felt such a delight in her showing me this world of dancing and laughing! We met there once a week before I became a nanny then all my evenings were taken. But I still love dancing Zumba and I still love my Awesome friend Brecca!

Shopping with a friend

 The valley below from my view on the highway was both beautiful and familiar as last week my boss from the Fair Teresa or TBiggs as I call her and another co-worker named Donna took me out into "The Snake River Wine Region" as we needed to pick up the bottles of wine for the Fair contest and wine judging we were in charge of. "This is really way out here from town, isn't it?" asked Donna as I smiled to myself from relaxing in the back seat of Tbigg's new car. Donna looked around as we drove on to the half a dozen wineries on Sunny slope road. My childhood farm was just over the next hillside as I smiled again to myself in awe of returning to these fun places to sip wine and learn more about wine...you can never know enough about such a wonderful beverage! I wish my parents had turned their farm into a vineyard right when all the fruit orchards died out 10 years ago....talk about getting in on the ground floor of a booming business! Maybe 100 years from now this whole valley will be as popular as Nappa/Sonoma Valley in California? I wonder and wish I could see the future sometimes! Donna, Tbiggs and I did a wine tasting at our first vineyard on plum road called "Bitner" it was so delightful, and fun to see how this local winery got started. I enjoyed the place very much as well as enjoy the whole day driving all over the countryside gathering up bottles of wine in the cooler of our car from many other wineries. "This is such a perfect day for this! Not to hot yet." Teresa exclaimed as I nodded looking out over across to lizard butte in front of us as the hillside rolled on in grape vines and clear sky! As the three of us ladies stood in line to buy our own bottles of wine after our first tasting session, I chuckled over my shoulder saying "Now this is my kind of "shopping" with my friends!" They all laughed back and totally agreed!

Singing with a friend

When I sing to myself or along side with a friend I feel connected to something much bigger then myself! I feel transported by the tunes and by the words! It takes me straight to my center being and I am made calmly balanced again.

I need this joy, this sound and this moment to sing my heart out while being alive! Because music is a HUGE part of who I am. It is both spiritual and physical to sing out loud with no fear and simply be one with the song!

Tiffany drove her mini-van through town with her four kiddos in the back as I opened a bag of jerky for everyone enjoy the day riding along with them to all their appointments. It was so much fun for me visiting with each of her kids as the song began Tiffany exclaimed turning it up "Oooooh I love this one!" I chuckled in knowing Adele's voice anywhere. The fact the four kids knew this song word for word really impressed me as the 6 of us all sang together filling the moving car with such powerful sound and I loved it so dearly, Singing with my friends!

Talking with a friend

      

     It was like having a little sister of my own only BreAnna was one of the smartest kids I had ever met both in knowledge and in socializing very naturally. Back then while I was getting married and she was entering Jr. High I delighted in listening to all she had been learning in school to how she saw the world around us so clearly. Her mother Linda was also a huge support in my life as it was ever so changing and unfolding crazily. And I will always remember the advice Linda gave me when I had just explained to her how Joanie her step-daughter was treating me, She smiled very steadily and kindly at me saying "It's hard when friends grow apart, when they change from who you use to know them to be....but Debby remember this, right and wrong can only be decided from what you know in yourself to work for you and in how you want your life to be." I sat there leaning into BreAnna's shoulder as the emotional 24 year old I was, while Bre smiled up at me adding along side her mother's advice as we all chill out together in their livingroom "You already know right from wrong, now all you have to do is know what kind of life that you want." When BreAnna said this in her "Mater of fact" way I giggled. Again I was blown away by this young lady in that summer evening 11 years ago! I still cherished those words and those friendships with those 2 back then. It was so fun to reconnected with BreAnna as she was planning her own wedding, while we met up over coffee catching up on all the changes and events that happened since I had moved away. I was so thrilled to see her! and to celebrate with her such a happy time, such a good life she had made for herself too! "You have always been like a little sister to my heart! I am so happy over this afternoon in meeting you here, and tell your mother I send her a big hug! I've always loved that smart woman!" Bre waved back at me as she headed out adding "Me too!"  I laughed, for seeing how a good mother/daughter relationship worked was my true gratefulness over the coffee date.
BreAnna's love for pets, for kids and for her family always make our conversations flow naturally and through out those next few years talking over the phone or online made me so very proud to know her again. I have always delighted in seeing kids grow up to be amazing powerful adults in their wisdom and in their stories of this shared life time. This could be why I have such hope for the future a new generations of strength and love could one day create that world peace I believe in so strongly.
    It was a couple of weeks after my mother's stroke, when late into the evening Linda was cooking dinner chatting away with Benny as she give me a wink here and there along with hug and plate of food. BreAnna swung down the stairs sitting right beside me as the four of ladies took in the dinner table talking and trying to avoid all the dark clouds gathering around us, together we laughed, joked and teased each other. Ooooh how it was such a lovely night one that always stays with me when I look back, for Bre and I were good friends by then. I admired her in learning how to care over her mother Linda whose cancer would claim her life after that fun dinner night in those next 6 months. I was also grateful to my best friend Benny who brought me along to sit and visit with Linda after the day at the hospital with my own struggling mother I was thankful for this ladies time. BreAnna half hug me as we sat next to each other at the dinner table sayin' as she did "I bet it's so hard to not be able to help your Mom...." She shot a glance at her own Mother who was smiling kindly at us both. I replied back thoughtfully knowing BreAnna was thinking of this sudden news over her own mother's suffering ahead. "It is," I replied pausing to think carefully how deeply sad I felt inside. I half smiled back at them all watching me carefully explaining "I have learned to take a deep breath before entering through those hospital doors then step outside in the rose garden or that sunny sidewalk just as soon as I can to keep my strength up or my smile strong...I will always choose hope over anything else those doctors say!" Benny nodded in agreement "I know that feeling exactly with my own Father...." I chimed back "THAT is why friends are so very important in being stuck at the hospital all day if you call and ask they will come take ya out for lunch or coffee to remind ya there is hope and life out there. I liked doing that for Benny over the years." Benny leaned her head towards me as we all passed the food around while Linda eat slowly watching over the three of us young ladies as we shared our sad experiences then she said "I wouldn't choose to fight this cancer if I didn't love my family more then myself. Because hospitals are horrible places and ya can never relax in them." We all agreed and nodded on with that soft glowing light in the kitchen as the conversations rolled through so many levels and layers of topics both deep and thoughtful as I delighted in silently listening to the common sense Linda and Benny shared. I felt the importance of hope, cheerfulness and joy come through all 4 of us into that late night. BreAnna shared some of her witty comebacks as we all laughed while leaving and I thought about how much stronger I felt being surrounded by those lovely ladies.
         On that cold winter's morning when BreAnna called me I had thought it was going to be just another chit chat about what has been going on in our lives like always. "Hey Girl, Good morning." I started as BreAnna sounded like she had been up for awhile I began to wonder as she explained "Hey Debby I just have some sad news to tell ya, my mom died early this morning" I froze in understanding and in shock because I had been planning on seeing Linda when I was back in Caldwell again real soon. I took a deep breath in my reply "I'm sorry so sorry Dear Lady, YOU are the joy and the pride of her life! For you to be there for her in these last days and in being so wise beyond your years, I'm in AWE of  YOU! Also I know for a fact that she loved you very much and you should be so proud of who you are today!" 
BreAnna and I were meant to always keep in touch here and there.
We are good for each other in bouncing back and forth some of life's biggest questions.
 She is someone I really look forward in talking to!
      "What is wrong with me? I don't want to see anyone I know right now yet I need to share about Benny all at the same time and I can't go home either?!?" BreAnna calmly explained over the phone as I walked through Nampa last year on the day Benny died. "Because if you go home then it all becomes real, you have to face that your best friend is now gone forever."  I giggled as I listened wiping freshly silent tears from my cheeks at the common sense of it all, I hadn't figured it out yet and she was exactly right! "I sure do love ya BreAnna girl! Thanks for talking me through this, I feel so much better now knowing why I am feeling this way." Bre added as we ended the call "You can call me at any time this kind of grief flares up at random times and if it's any help for right now You will learn more how to live with it better in time." I sat awhile in awe of how talking with a friend was so good for me to know what to do next!

Drinking with a friend

One of my favorite times in going out is "Happy hour" that 3-6 mostly or in the nice late summer nights 10-12. It's not as crowded as normal dinner/party time so getting my lawn mowed or home maintenance project done by 3 or 4 heading out to drink a beer or my most favorite hard cider especially on these hot summer days are my favorite past time. There is a new place that just opened last month across the street from my husband's law school called "Boise Brewing". I have been following their blog for over a year now finally excited that they opened a local pub surrounded by all these shiny tanks brewing up their next list of  beers on tap. As a friend ask what kind of beers do they have and how many times have I been there I found myself laughing that most every Sunday afternoon and 2 evenings a week I have been there since they opened! Meeting up with friends, or just waiting for my husband to get out of class. It's a laid back place that lets ya bring in your own snacks or they will go pick up an order for ya while you stay kicking back and relax over a nice chilled beer. Kathy and I have worked a few different places together mostly meeting first at the Fair, since she now works at BB I love seeing her and catching up with her on all her new art work. Last summer evening while working the Fair a sudden wind storm caught us all of guard as I raced across the kitchen to close the door with all my strength against the storm I saw the wind ripe off a huge heavy cabinet door right where Kathy stood in those seconds of yelling back at her "Kathy! Look out!" she was already on the move in such alarm as I held the door close to the slamming of the broke cabinet hitting the floor behind me. Kathy exclaimed "If THAT had actually hit me I would be dead!" I hugged her in relief and tried to move the heavy crazy door to the side of the wall. I explained "You would of been so badly hurt if this had hit ya! I can't even lift it off the floor it's so heavy! How insane was that wind?" She and I have worked well together and I love all her crazy stories, life experiences and vibrant energy. Drinking with a friend like her kicking back with a "cheers" and simply just chatting is one of my favorite things to do on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Yesterday she handed me her phone number saying "Let's hang out more on my days off, we could grab lunch shop thrift stores together." I smiled so big for making new friends is one of my most favorite things! "Well, of course!" I said back at her as the guys at my table joked around how unfair it was that I was the one who got her phone number. There is such a joy in getting to know new people, while also chilling out over a drink getting out of the heat of the day and thinking life is good!

Being with a friend

Minnie

      When it comes to being with my pets, I consider them my wonderful friends and I am grateful for every single second I can be with them!

Sidda

They are also my family, my sweet, sweet souls of different personalities and endless stories to share!

Oscar

I wake up with many kisses and hugs for them, spending time talking with each one through out my day and knowing for each moment that I can make their lives peaceful and good then my whole world shines with such joy and true beauty! 
I love them so much, and I love being with them all the time! From morning to night even in the middle of the night I care over them and watch out for anything they need as they have made me so very very happy in being with my friends!

Jazzy

Lewy

Tinker Belle

Gardening with a friend

My neighbor Bernice has a huge garden that I have always loved. I like to walk through it and ask her about everything that grows there over the last few years since I moved into the neighborhood. 
Since she had back surgery the garden took on a life of it's own, with raspberry bushes thick and deep into the landscape. I worked through walls of weeds half as tall as me! When a gardener can't get out into the dirt for awhile the natural wild will find such perfect enriched soil and decent water supply to be such a wonderful paradise to grow......I am in awe of the millions of raspberries that feed the bugs or bees in where I can not reach, after clearing away a patch of ground I got Bernice's dozen tomato plants and peppers in the ground thinking my biggest battle could be against the wall of weeds waiting for me to leave again. I asked across the thick growth of mint "Do you have a hose everything is now in the ground?" Bernice handed me a bucket saying I'll have to carry the water over. I chuckled to myself in how this once was the way people garden but since I have discovered soaking hoses and timers I enjoy the easy way to give all my plants a drink by the click of a switch. "I'll get some weed barrier to keep them from crowding the tomatoes." I mentioned as Bernice chuckled at me she explained "It won't work, since we flood irrigate the weeds will always find a way into the ground." I nodded worn out by the hard work and hot late morning it took me 4 hours to get everything in the ground and now I realized such space will win out my desire to pull weeds so if I can lessen that problem by covering up the ground then I can simply go over every other day to water and add in one of my soaker hoses too. Without water in transplanting then all this hard work will die quite quickly against such strong heat. Bernice handed me a glass of ice water while I sat back to admire the new look on her garden. "We have a long ways to go but your garden soil is wonderful, dark and rich easy to move I realize just how much clay I have in comparison." I smiled while drinking in the shade as all my work was done for the blazing afternoon sun had arrived, she chuckled back reminding me that she create this soil over a 50 year period and I wondered if I could wait that long to better my own gardens?!?!

Living with a friend

   Today is always such a fun day! It's hard to not be at the Oregon Coast right now though....Our anniversaries are always so important to us and we love cooking such good foods on such a day. This is a hard time with Tony in school, we like to live more lazily. It will be such a celebration when we are free from such his class schedule and such stress.
When visiting my cousin last weekend I noticed how Tony's PJ and mine match in red and blue with that "His" and "Hers" look which made me laugh for after 11 years of marriage we are now dressing very much alike!

 Being married is different for everyone but I describe it as "keeping it real" and most importantly being friends above all else. 
Celebrating anniversaries is easier then setting up an actual wedding ceremony. I love thinking back over how much we have changed and stayed the same! Living with a friend is what makes life unfold with all it's wonders and magic! Tony and I can't help but finish each others sentence or thought after being married for so long......and now our PJ's match which makes me laugh all the more!

Walking with a friend

"When you are truly happy it is impossible to think "That person is so stupid." because happy people do not judge nor do they carry on over other peoples lives and dramas....They are HAPPY, there is no room for any other emotion in that feeling of true happiness." Molly said this as we walked back home from grabbing ice coffee drinks on such a warm nice June afternoon and I laughed fully at how true her statement was! As I was feeling so happy to be walking with her in that beautiful perfect late morning!
"When I've been sad for awhile it feels so good, so refreshing to be happy once again just by being grateful and thankful for moments like this." I explained "I come from such unhappy family growing up, it was so dark and full of fear. Now I realize being brave is a choice, being happy is also a choice. I like knowing I have the choice, the power to change my mind on how I am feeling...." 
Molly has been my friend since we went to the same church, she was like a little sister to me as I befriended her older sister Tiffany who was more my age all those years back. Molly has grown up into such a wonderful young lady with kindness and thoughtfulness in always wanting to listen and help those she loves so much. I have enjoyed her happiness, I enjoy her honesty and her refreshing view on life. 
I am grateful to stay in touch and to still know her. For she is beautiful and she is so wise in how she lives her happy good life that I look forward to those refreshing moments for my soul in meeting over coffee or walking with such a good friend!