I really have to get better at taking my camera along for pictures. Monday night we were snowshoeing on Medicine Lake, a local frozen wonder, as the full moon rose over the island of trees. It was a great picture, full moon rising, women covered head to toe against the below zero temps, and lots of snow kicking up from our snowshoes. You’ll have to imagine with me.
But it wasn’t really about the moon or the snow. It was about a group of women very close to my heart. In my past life I was a “family day care provider”. I spent my days with children, loving them, teaching them, playing with them, taking them outside everyday. Years have passed and the children have grown and some have babies of their own but still I get together with the “daycare moms” and we go outside together. We snowshoe, nordic walk, hike, stroll, simply sit in the garden and we connect with each other sharing the joys and pains and celebrations and trials of our lives.
It’s an important time for me. These women know me like no others. They have been there for me through 27 years of diapers and school conferences and job changes and graduations and so much more. I know that if I needed anyone of them today I would only have to call and they would be here to hold me and help me to the other side of whatever was happening. I count these women among the many blessings in my life and I know how lucky I am that they found me all those years ago.
May the full moon find you all with friends to love and support you in these hard times.