Tongue Tyed: A Beautiful Life

May 6, 2005

A Beautiful Life

This morning I had one of those moments. Those few seconds where you realize what you have. How lucky you really are. How ok everything really is, despite how you make feel about life from time to time.

On my drive to work, I pass through a business district with many factories and warehouses. This morning one of these building needed mending. Leaning against the side of the building were five extremely tall ladders. Some were only two stories, but some were three stories high. And attached to these ladders were 5 men. Each clinging to the rungs at different heights. Behind the men and ladders were their shadows. Perfect shadows reflecting each rung and the outlines of each man. The sun was shining a crisp, clear white and the scene was just so serene. So beautiful in it's perfection of the mundane. Something in the simplicity of it made me think of how perfect life can be. How my friends and I are like those ladders in the morning sun. We are each on separate paths, standing on different rungs of life. Some of us are married, some are dating, some are single. Some have college degrees, some have master's degrees, some have only a high school diploma. But we are all in the same picture. Our differences, our separateness making our friendships all the more beautiful and making the picture all the more complete.

We have one of those rare groups that feels more like family than friends. We do all sorts of things together, and introduce each other to our separate worlds all the time. The sports fanatics invite us to watch sporting events, the campers set up camping trips, the artist invites people to the museum. And we all readily join in, looking forward to the new perspective.

The core of this group is the four of us who went to high school together. We are essentially, the tie that binds. We have now been friends for nearly a decade, and that friendship seems to transend most anything that can be thrust upon it. There have been periods where we haven't all been speaking, but those seem to fall by the wayside eventually and we pick up where we left off.

From our core group spins out about 20 or 25 more people, with the inner circle being about 7 or 8 people at any given time. I am so lucky to have these friends. They make Dallas interesting. They make me happy and relaxed. They create a sense of security in a time of life when everything is changing at the speed of light.

There is something amazing about having friends that knew you when you were an awkward teenager with unplucked eyebrows and frizzy hair. Friends who have a nickname for you that only they are allowed to utter. Friends who knew you when you were as anal retentive as they come, yet stuck around to see you mellow into something almost normal. Friends who shared a limo with you on a night that, at the time, seemed destined to be one of your greatest moments.

How am I so lucky to still have these friends? In a commonplace setting, like the men on the ladders in the morning sun, they make my ordinary life infinitely more beautiful. And I am so thankful they joined my picture.

posted by Ty @ 5/06/2005

1 Comments:

At 7:20 PM, May 09, 2005, Anonymous said...: Beautifully expressed.

Thanks for making me remember to stop and be thankful for the wonderful people in my life.

Lori

About Me