Every year Dan and I are running full speed in lawn care by March, every year we spend our summer weekdays an hour away from our hometown to run the business.  Every year we come back some time in October and start to patch things up with our friends and get involved with church again.  It's a schedule I've become used to.  I don't panic anymore in the rush of things, but remember it'll pass, and it always does.  But there is always pain involved.

Today I was feeling it a little more than usual, until an unexpected visitor walked right through my anxieties, and let me know I wasn't alone.

Jeanne is much older than me, Dan's mom's friend, in fact.  But she's always been a nearby neighbor and friend to the Hobbs, as far as I can remember, and she feels right at home here.  And ever since I moved in, I've benefited from their relationship.  For Jeanne's heart never strays from a person, even if it's been a long time.  She'll pop in and start a conversation on politics or kids or family or schedules just as easy as pie, with no awkwardness or catching up needed.  Today it was as if I had never left, which is what I needed.

I think I'll take a lesson from this openhearted friend, and take her up on her invitation to "Come to our house any time of day."  After all, she's just first right and a left and you're there.

Thanks, Jeanne.