Kindred Spirits

When Kindred Spirit Friend greeted me at her home at the start of our journey together, she rather wryly commented, 'I shall be on my best behavior on this trip.  You must always be cautious when you travel with a Blogger.'

And right she was.

Not only did most of the square miles of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island get photographed, but a Travel Journal was half filled with the day to day adventures of these traveling, long time friends. Menus were copied and humorous insights noted.  And between the four of us, there was much to note.

 Hubby and I started out early for the start of our vacation. (Heretofore referred to as 'holiday' since that's what the Canadians call it)  'On holiday, are ya, eh?'
Hubby and I felt we needed the extra day and a half to catch up with them and to learn from KS's hubby, all the ins and outs of international travel and packing.
We reveled in each other's company, still finding it hard to believe that the trip was imminent.
Looking back at my notes, I  found such a great contentment just hanging out at KS's cozy,gracious home that I could have called it a vacation. Almost. The colorful cutting garden, the soothing front porch, the tasty, well decorated table that she sets so well, all added up to a joy to my senses and comfort in my soul.  Anytime you can spend time in the company of a Kindred Spirit, you should soak  in the minutes and clamp your brain around the memories.

 It has been thirteen long years since I said good bye to my dear friend and moved six hours south.  Sure, we've had visits and emails and in the early days before I became adept at the computer, we had long, colorful, gift filled letters and postcards that I'm sure confused and amazed our postal carriers.  These letters are bound away, waiting for the day when our children will be rolling on the floor laughing or sobbing into their hankies.  I have warned my kiddos that they need to make the time to read the letters circa 1999-2002 when I have gone onto my reward.  I believe they will get a clear, objective view of their mother through the letters written often and clearly to my Bosom Buddy.

 We are scarily similiar in so many ways but interestingly different to keep us on our toes.  We chastise and encourage.  We critique and give wisdom.  But mostly, it is my goal to get her to laugh.  Love it when tears are rolling from one of  our comments or observations.  We are opinionated yet open minded.  Somewhat.

 I thought it was important for you to see her home so that you can understand just how lovely she is. (And yes, we  have the same color for our bathrooms.)

 Patriotic and political, a flag waves her allegiance.

 Wicker decorates her porch.  Along with a customized pillow by yours truly, made nearly 20 years ago for the occasion of a garden that we made together in her yard.  A harrowing storm was impending and the sky started turning green.  We were in the midst of planting marigolds around our tomatoes, when KS pointed out that we needed to stagger the color of the marigolds so that it would look amazing. (Even though the main point of the marigolds was to keep bugs off the maters)  I began to run for shelter but KS insisted on finishing the planting the colorful way.  As I yelled at her to drop her trowel and to get her....self in the house, she raised her small shovel in the air and yelled, long hair blowing in the tornadic winds, 'Poor weather is no excuse for bad taste!!'  That's how looney she is.

 Kindred Spirit also bows to the need of flora and fauna.  Her home shares a nest with a mourning dove and other unwed mother birds.

 She placed this vintage appliqued linen piece in her window just because she knew I would love it.  She did this with her serving bowls at meals as well.  Beautiful pieces adorning the table only adding to the whole experience of the visit and completely tickling me.  She knows.

 KS is a glass mosaic artist.  The window on the left is mine.  It's called Deb's Garden.  This is publicly stated just in case her daughters are reading and they doubt the ownership.  Sara's is on the right.

 I have a piece of furniture painted this color. Technically, her wonderful daughter, Emily, painted this but you can see how this relationship kindredship is leaking into the next generation....

Here we are prior to our drive to the airport.
Our time together was fun, blissful, full of beautiful images and memorable conversations and dinners.

But truly, when you spend time with your KS, sitting on the porch would have been enough....

Love you Renee.....

Kindred Spirit Friend

Kindred spirit - Idiom Definition - UsingEnglish.com

The first time Kindred Spirit Friend entered my home, she knew that we needed to know each other better.  Twenty two years ago, she came to help out on a homeschool cooperative effort that our group did every Friday.  We shared skills and talents with the children of our group and it was my turn to do crafts with the 9-11 year old girls.  It was also the day that I had my first appointment with a psychologist to deal with the agoraphobia/anxiety disorder that I had struggled with for nearly ten years.  KSF came willingly.  It was also my 36th birthday.  This was well noted by KSF since this was the date of her own dear mother's birthday.  Upon further discussion of this phenomenon, it was discovered the my Hubby shared the birth date of her own dear father.  See?  Kismet.


In the years to follow, we would enjoy the unfolding of many, many kismetian aspects of our parallel universe lives.

• Our children are nearly the same age.  I had an extra one just for interest.  My youngest was only a year old when we met so she has known KSF all her life.
• We homeschooled our children.  We both have been involved in the pro life movement in a proactive way.  Our husbands worked at the same government installation.
• We are voracious readers; hers more non fiction, helpful knowledge kind of books; me, more entertaining fictional bent.  Independent movies are quoted frequently at our gatherings.
• Our Third Children are crazy funny people.  Nothing was more entertaining than eating lunch while her Third Child read to us from an antiquated sex manual, in a proper British accent.  Much choking from laughter ensued.
• We talk with our hands.  Kinda dangerous if you're nearby.
• When I moved away from her, I received lengthy hand written letters in artfully designed envelopes, some with silly messages on the outside so as to entertain my mailman.  Or maybe scare him off.  Postcards were her speciality.  The more absurd, the better.
• We both think that the other one is the most extraordinary person alive.
• We both had rocky, interesting childhoods and now see the humor/wisdom in them.
• We can call each other with grim news, sobbing and uncontrolled and we know what to say to each other to calm each other down.
• I called KSF first when my mother died.
• She called me when her father had a stroke and I got to the hospital first for her.  We both cared for our invalid fathers at home for a lengthy period of time.
• KSF and her wonderful husband, Boseph, took my mother to a theatre an hour away, in their pick up truck to see 'Much Ado About Nothing', when our local theatres did not carry it.  My mother was not an easy person to take to the movies due to her loud commentary.  But they took on the task and made it memorable.
• KSF, when asking what she could do for me on the occasion of my mother's death, and I responded that she could do the eulogy, and she did so with great love and compassion.
• The first Thanksgiving in our new town, my sons opted to travel to her house to celebrate rather than be reminded that they were the new kids in town on a holiday.  That, and the fact that one of our most fabulous Thanksgivings were held at her house.
• She has designed a stained glass window in my home.  KSF and her Hubby came to my home the first weekend we arrived, to pull up carpeting, fill in paneling, hang anaglypta, paint and now provide poetry written for me in my Renee Busha` Not Yet Memorial Library.  After this past weekend's visit, it appears she still has a vested interest in the RBNYML since she informed me that she has the companion piece fabric to my new living room curtains and has plenty to cover the cushions on my wicker and Busha' Bed (a couch her husband made from the head and foot boards of an old bed of their daughters)  in the library for it's makeover in the fall.  See?  In all the land of fabric, we managed to pick out the same designer.
• She is the artist I wish I was.  I live artistically, vicariously through her.
• We stay on the same side of the fence politically but our religious preference are delightfully different.   We learn from each other through our discussions in our faith beliefs.  I am decidedly Calvinist, while she embraces Arminianism. ( Of or relating to the theology of Jacobus Arminius and his followers, who rejected the Calvinist doctrines of predestination and election and who believed that human free will is compatible with God's sovereignty.)   We have both been involved in Inner City ministry and have learned a great deal in the doing of it.
• We have camped together at a music festival for thousands. 
• We have tended a garden together.
• We love to write; she studied English/Writing in college in her grown up years; I just pretend I did.
• I barely graduated from high school; she dropped out.  We both think that we are pretty much the  smartest people we know.

As our visit this past weekend came to a close, I kept having to ask myself if this could have been real, it was so perfect.  We chatted and sat on the porch and farmer's marketed and lunched at the co operative, we watched the movie Temple Gradin http://www.hbo.com/movies/temple-grandin/index.html from the comfort of my bed.

Since KSF knew me when the agoraphobic disorder that plagued me for years was at it's zenith, we never have traveled together.  Yet.  This weekend, it was decided that if we aren't buying the house together that we looked at Saturday, we really should go on a trip, celebrating her 35th anniversary and my 40th to our teenage sweethearts.

This kind of friendship makes a girl want to be a better person if for nothing else that to make your kindred spirit smile and be proud of knowing you.  It urges you to embrace life and enjoy the sharing of it with someone that 'gets' you.

Thank you KSF for our time together and your long travel to get to me.

I am blessed by knowing you.

Potpourri

Have traveled a bit this summer.  Collected sights and memories and now that I'm perched for a spell, I'm having fun viewing all that I have taken in.  Swell visits.  Companionable people. Fun car trips.  Nothing on a National Park Scale, but lots of lovely visits with some of my very favorite people. Miss Vivien, of course.  And here at Baby Girl's Baby Shower for her Baby Girl, Vivie and I clued in on each other and quite honestly, it took me awhile to see anything else.  We spun a neck grabbing hug as we caught up on all our lovins.  The photo of the grandest gathering of lovely young women was taken at Squirrel Park.  Aptly named.  And there were actual squirrels there, not just a Mimi crawling up a slide for her granddaughter.  In the heat.  After traveling three hours.  For a special party. Vivie and Mimi had to have some time. In her piggy tail photo, V is wearing a dress that Mimi made her.  Didn't think the fabric or pattern could have gotten much cuter.  I was wrong.Then there was the Niece Lovefest.  Eldest/Admin is absolutely smitten with her Unborn Niece.  She could not wait to feel for herself the magnitude of movement that Baby Girl is experiencing.  I walked in on this moment.  Two sisters with the Baby Mind Meld.  Adorable.Kindred Spirit Friend, Stained Glass Artist, author, poet, most precious of friend.  And we are quite silly as well, climbing into the back of her seatless RAV, indulging in Whitey's Ice Cream.  We laughed and giggled as we traveled to her gracious home, while our Hubby's caught up on their lives and listened to the Two Buds in the Back.  And our Leaving Photo had to include, Pearlman, her doxie, who just at that moment wanted to be a Cory.As Crazy Dee was purchasing some Spectacular Gem adorned sandals, I came across this sign that really does define us.  She still owes me $10.00.

Peek a Boo.  I see you, most Wonderful Granddaughter.....Mimi loves you......