I talked with a twelve-year old this weekend about intentional friendships. I asked her if she knew what intentional meant. She crinkled her nose up, deep in thought, "Does it mean on purpose?" She's good at vocabulary. We talked about how sometimes friendships just happen but sometimes if you're intentional and put in extra effort it makes the friendship that much better. She had just spent time making lists for two of her friends about why she loved them. "That's being intentional," I told her. "I think you're really good at that." She smiled and pushed up her glasses on the bridge of her freckled nose.
This weekend was a marathon of overlapping with different people I love. A series of reunions and sporting events and shared meals and conversations with great questions. Some of it was intentional and some of it just happened and I think when there is a balance of both those are the best kinds of friendships you can have.
I started the weekend with a few members of Team CILT at Huddles. Kathleen was there long enough to enjoy some fro yo before she had to head off for her first practice with her new soccer team. Soccer is her passion and takes up so much of her time but I love when I get a quick second with this girl who is so funny and kind and motivated and sincere.
Erin and I did what we do best when we're together and talked about life and made lists. One of the things I noticed about her while we were at camp is that she is always so intentional. She would seek me out to have a heart to heart. Erin stays in touch with people that she cares about. She expects people to be honest with her and she is always honest in return.
Kelsey got to come and join us for a few minutes before work at Justice around the corner. We loved her sparkly shirt and metallic kicks but mostly the way she jumps right into the conversation and list-making with us. Some of our favorite things about CILTs: love tanks, "Want to walk with me?", RFAJWD, getting to keep 42 kids for two weeks, theta kappa lambda, eating every meal in the party room, hanging out at night before devotions, shadowing Day Camp, star gazing, figuring out who I want to be.
Lucky for me, Depauw is still on Fall Break so I got to spend the rest of the weekend in a camp reunion of sorts with so many of my best friends. Coll was sporting her Mulan bun Friday night and so proud to show us the Nike cake Rachel surprised her with the day before. It was a culinary masterpiece that we quickly dug into and devoured.
Dinner felt like friends gathered together on a night-off in the summer except for the presence of sweatshirts, fleeces and scarves. Cami discovered the macaroni and cheese, Molls loved every second of it, McSoley made us laugh, Lesem made a guest appearance, Coll asked good questions, Mary told old stories, Rachel took care of us, and Chrissy made us feel loved.
We got to spend the rest of the night in my favorite room of the Kelley house talking about and making lists of future kid names and friend crushes (people you already know that you want to be better friends with) and activities we hope our kids will never join.
Bright and early Saturday morning, Jenna and I went to the Indiana Semi-State cross-country meet. On a weekly basis I get heckled for being such a fan of the sport but I'm telling you there is nothing better. Jenna and I decided we need to start praying now that our future children will want to be runners.
We ran into some Carmel YL kids and I got to cheer for some of my old HSE students.
I love that there are hordes of people that come out to cheer. They sprint back and forth across the course to yell for their runner. Such a social sport, you can't just sit on the bleachers. I love that every kid on the cross-country team gets to participate and no one gets benched. We think it's safe to stereotype that cross-country kids are nice and respectful kids that do well in school and have good friends.
I love that these runners know about perseverance and determination. We love that they can practice anytime they want and don't need a gym or the rest of the team or expensive equipment in order to practice. I love that once you're out there running the race it's such a mental sport--who can push themselves up the hill, to catch one more girl, to dig in and sprint the last stretch.
I was SO excited for my lunch with Emily Chase and Avery. Molls and I hadn't seem them since before summer and we needed to fix that. I love watching these best friends interact with each other. They are just so dang funny that I often can't believe how they come up with the things that they say.
They are so full of life and bursting at the seems with energy. From middle of the night trips to Steak n' Shake to choreographed dance routines to barking dog alarms I've learned that nothing should surprise me about them.
Chrissy is Kaya's confirmation mentor and was her counselor for two weeks at camp this summer in Wyandot dot dot. Since she is away at school it's hard for them to meet up very often but this afternoon we got to play. Olivia, Oksana, and Kaya were in Choctaw with me in 2010 and with Chrissy this past summer.
The afternoon was such a great reminder of why we love working with the kids in River Village and how awesome these girls really are.
After impressing us with how much frozen yogurt they could each eat they decided our list topic should be "Top 10 Things I Love About Camp Tecumseh." Perfect idea.
Our next destination was Cyntheanne Park to watch Olivia's soccer game. She is a great goalie- focused on the game, shouting out encouragement to her team mate, keeping a positive attitude no matter what.
I was thrilled when I got to the fields and realized that this was the Halloween Classic- the soccer tournament all of my students compete in. I spotted familiar faces right away and was greeted by "Miss Wright! Miss Wright!" It was so fun to see these FBC girls and hear about their games.
Chrissy and Oksana HOHed (hang out horizontal) while we watched the game and soon the rest of our cheering section joined us.
We miss getting to be outside all day long, hanging out with our campers.
At the end of the game we got to congratulate the goalie. She's a rockstar.
We believe in not taking life too seriously and always taking the opportunity to play on a playground. Try the spinny seats of doom, climb to the top of the rope christmas tree, go down the scary slide, and climb across all the spider webs.
Eventually it was time to say good-bye to our Blazer girls and our flashback to the River Village.
Then it was a 5 Guys burger eating, back-scratching, question asking, game playing, heart-to-hearting, Blue Like Jazz reading, feeling blessed kind of night.
Sunday morning I woke up to head to Common Ground. As soon as I arrived I ran into the whole Houghton family and Maddy. I saved us seats while they dropped off the kids in their Sunday School rooms and Marlin and Joel slid into our aisle. Crazy to think that just a few years ago I knew no one when I would come to this church and now I'm so thankful to be a part of this community of people.
I was challenged during Jeff's sermon today about how as Christians, most of us live our lives functionally as agnostics in the way that we worry about and store up all this stuff. But he said, "I want to be a part of a people marked by their generosity. How can I give the abundance of what I have, my time, talents, and money, to other people? We need to reorganize our lives in the ways of Jesus."
I'm amazed that we're nearing the end of October and I could still go for a run today in just a t-shirt and shorts. It was beautiful out. So beautiful that I had to go watch some more sports. I'm such a huge sports fan you know.
I picked up Maddie Mahoney and we head back out to the soccer fields to watch a group of my 8th grade girls from FBC and bible study compete in the championship game. These girls are rock-stars and are so talented that they're playing up an age level against high school teams.
Maddie learned all their names and we cheered encouragement really loud. I've heard them talk about soccer for years and read their papers about why they love it, but it was so cool getting to watch all of them out on the field working as a team.
Unfortunately they lost this afternoon which is a bummer but they were still great sports and should be so proud that they did so well in the tournament. Maddie and I got to mingle with parents, talk to girls after the game, get our favorites from the concession stand and talk about how leading by example and showing good sportsmanship are really important parts of soccer.
When I got home I got to Skype with Annie who was in an especially great mood this afternoon. She showed me this picture she drew of her and Maggie (it's all about the hair).
Annie wins the award for "Best Big Sister Ever" today. She decided Ellen was watching too much TV so she kept making up photo scavenger hunts for her. Every five minutes Ellen would run in to show her the picture from her completed list and then ask for 6 new tasks.
Sunday night is becoming Chick Flick night and tonight's feature was Something Borrowed. Emel, Coll, Molls and I stretched out on the couch to watch the tangled web between Rachel, Dex, Darcy and Ethan. It was wonderfully predictable as all good chick flicks are and the perfect end to the weekend.
I hope that this coming week you will be able to spend time with your friends and connect with the people that mean the most to you. It might just happen because you work together or both have math 6th period or play on the same soccer team, but maybe you'll have to send a letter or make a phone call or plan a coffee date or ask them to Skype. However you make it happen, invest in your relationships this week.
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