hello.hello.hola.

 Dear Gabrielle,

How are you this week? After Bruno and Renee's wedding ended last Saturday, we spent a furious 24 hours throwing clothes into the washer, then into the dryer and then into our suitcases . . . then hoped that we had everything we needed as we boarded our plane to travel to Ameeeeericaaaa (as Selma dreamily calls it.)

And here we are - DC. We'll spend a few weeks on the east coast before we make it down to visit Texas; (ready the cousins; it's soon; very soon!)

We had dinner with the Thomas family this week; do you know them? I hadn't seen them in, oh, 20 years? Our time with them was so sweet; woven throughout our conversation -all evening long - were stories of their friendships. We heard stories of friendship that had spanned 20 years, and friendship that had just begun to blossom.  We heard stories of friendships that crossed cultures and age barriers; we heard of how friendships had been planted and then grown through letters and visits and dinners. 

It was so good for my heart.
It was such a good reminder to me of how relationships shape humanity;
about how relationship is the venue that God created for us to give and receive love
to find joy and purpose.
and it was good to be pushed to evaluate how I pursue friendships - pushed to search my heart to see if I value relationship as much as I should.

(let's talk more about this when we are in Texas this month, ok? I'm still processing)
love you,
Naomi

p.s. DC doesn't have the cherry blossoms that it had promised me, but it does have these cheery bulbs. I don't mind too much!

pop on over to Gabrielle's blog to read her letter!  She posts lovely pictures and writes things that make me think  (plus, sometimes she says really nice things about me; I'm totally headed over there right now)