This past week, a friend I have known for about 15 years came out to visit Dan and I. I got a call from him a few weeks ago asking if he could come for a visit. We had lost touch for several years, keeping up with each other though online communities like facebook. Hearing from him was a wonderful surprise, but also...it made me nervous. We hadn't really spoken on a deeper level in years. Only being able to speak for my own transformations, but they have been significant. This friend and I were fundamentalist Christian friends who thought our most loving duty was to invite people to church so that they could be saved.
Well...
We have changed sooo similarly it's frightening. We have both been attending UU churches, have had amazing personal growth experiences that have less us to being more open-minded and caring people. We are both trying to expand our self-awareness further. We have had an amazing week. He's also gotten a chance to get to know Dan more, which is wonderful. They have had so much to talk about, especially as they are both politically progressive and this was the week for the Republican National Convention :) There have been no shortages of topics.
My friend decided to come during a week that happened to be the inaugural week for two UU church groups: one a book club, the other, choir. I have been looking forward to these two groups for a while and was worried that the presence of my friend may make me unable to go. But instead, he got the book and read the first couple of chapters and wrote his response, and went to choir with me. Then we had a late night dinner and walked on the beach for a couple of hours. It was incredible and heart-warming. We learned so much about each other and shared much of what has happened to us in the last few years.
I am grateful for friends.
