The Work and the Beauty of Reconnecting with People You Love

I was in Utah twice last month. Once to help celebrate my sister’s 40th birthday, and then to drop off Lucy for summer school. And man, that is a place chock-full of people we love. My parents and a bunch of my siblings live there, lots of my high school girlfriends as well as college girlfriends live there. And FIVE of my own kids living there, plus grandbabies. Of course, my kids and grandkids are always top on my priority list, but I love that during these last two visits I got to spend some good time reconnecting with old friends. Sometimes it takes some work, but connecting brings so much happiness. And somewhere in the middle of all that connecting with people I love, I found myself connecting with God in a way I really needed.

On the first visit I got some time to connect with my big kids that filled up my whole heart.

Then time with my sisters for a birthday celebration complete with a special “closing of the bones” ceremony.

I wrote about those things. But I want to keep track of the other people I love we got to connect with.

Meeting up with College Girlfriends

During that first visit I didn’t write about this small group of college girlfriends I got to have lunch with before I headed to meet up with my sisters:

And that visit should be noted because I so love reuniting after so many years and being able to pick up right where we left off. Oh we’ve reunited a few times here and there since college. We had a California girls trip what feels like centuries ago, we met up in San Francisco and we also had a girls trip in the desert (lots more about our history in that post). And we’ve kept in touch through the years through different avenues.

But it’s been a long time and I’ve sure been missing them.

We sat on a sunny restaurant porch and talk, talk, talked for 2.5 hours about everything under the sun (and didn’t even hit the tip of the iceberg). There is so much life going on for each of us. So many highs and lows. I just felt so much love for each of them and felt cradled in their love right back. I’m so grateful for what they’ve taught me through the years. I still feel like they are my kindred spirits even thirty years after we were roommates at BYU.

We look just the same right? Ha! That must have been back when there was only black and white film:)

More Connecting on our Second Visit

When Lu and I headed to Utah for the second time to move her into BYU summer school we reconnected with some of Claire’s friends (and my friends’ kids) randomly at the airport. We also got to reconnect with lots more of my family on Father’s Day for my nephew’s homecoming:

BYU Friends Whose Kids are Now Going to BYU

Amidst the whole move-in process I got to reconnect with more BYU college girlfriends that weren’t at that lunch during the first college visit:

So fun that our kids were all checking into our old college stomping grounds. I love that Brigitta’s son (my friend on the left above) randomly became friends with Max when they went to BYU without us even introducing them!

A Sisters Hike and Temple Visit

I got to reconnect with my sisters again cradled in Mother Earth…because that’s what we do.

We missed Charity who was in Norway, but I think she was pretty satisfied with some different Mother Earth beauty she was experiencing. We took a “polar plunge” after our hike and felt so alive!

After our hike we headed to the temple.

I look up to these sisters in so many ways. They are such good examples to me. When Saydi (on the left) turned 50 this year she decided she was going to go to the temple 50 times during her 50th year. She’s almost to her birthday (in August) and is almost to 50 temple trips and I love that. It’s not just a check-box for this girl. She has willed herself to learn so much. Not only about God, but also lots of tricks to stay awake. Ha!

I loved coming out of our session to find those sisters of mine sitting on a purple couch against a huge paneled white backdrop, filled up with wisdom and interesting thoughts.

More Time With College Girlfriends

Got to reunite with these girls for dinner one night, yes a couple of them who had been at the BYU orientation with me:

AND with a friend from study abroad in Jerusalem who just so happened to walk into our restaurant while we were having dinner. (I met Nikki, on the right, in Jerusalem, and she’s the one who introduced me to so many of these other friends when we got back to BYU…I was transferring from Boston University).

It’s such a small world!

Got to hang with these three college friends too:

Let’s Not Forget the High School Friends

Only a smaller group of high school friends were available to gather, but I LOVED being with them.

Sometimes it’s so special to have a smaller group to really dive deep into catching up with each other’s lives. We have gotten together quite often over the years, most recently in Newport. These women have been with me through thick and thin and truly helped raise me. They are each doing so much good in the world.

Connecting with Mother Earth Too

Ok, not a person per se, but there is something so healing and beautiful in Mother Earth. I was so glad Dave got to Utah to enjoy some of it, and these people too!

Mother Earth was struggling a bit on this last trip since there were some fires in Utah. The sky was so smokey at some points!

That mixed with some rain made for some pretty beautiful skies.

I got to bask in Mother Earth because we were doing a LOT of driving to do all that connecting I tell you!

Connecting with My Parents

With so many kids in my growing-up family and now having so many adult kids ourselves, Dave and I don’t get to hang much with just my parents.

So we made it a priority this trip and I loved sitting them for so long, just the four of us eating delicious Indian food.

And then walking Main Street in Park City.

They are filled up with so many ideas and so much goodness and I adore them with my whole heart.

Reconnecting with Our Mother/Daughter Darlings

This group of Claire’s friends should really have a name, so maybe I’ll just call them the darlings. Because that’s what they are. I just love them so much. They are the kind of girls who go out of their way to talk to you and love you and build you, even when you’re an old mom. Ha! I got to know them when they came to visit the desert all together a few years ago. Then nine out of eleven of them headed out on missions all over the world, and came back to share the most beautiful stories from their adventures. One of the moms gathered them AND their moms for a little mother/daughter retreat last year and I just love them all.

Anyway, those girls are starting to get married off speedy quick. My niece was the first wedding, and the second was happily while I was in Utah.

So much happiness!

So great to reconnect with the moms who were there, love them!

Connecting on the Phone and Also Through Prayer

This wedding was quite a drive to get to, but I had the most sacred moments in the car going to and from (Dave wasn’t able to come, so I was going solo.)

Despite the fact that I came so close to running out of gas and didn’t have my wallet, and also my phone (with a wallet) was almost out of battery AND I had to borrow Claire’s clothes when I got there because I was coming from a biking adventure in the mountains (phew!), that drive to and from was so special to me.

On the way there I got to talk deep with Elle and boy I was teary with so much love for that girl. There is something so special about time with no distractions to just talk.

And on the way home, I had a special talk with God. About everything, I just talked and talked cradled in the darkness of that long road, and tried to be still enough to let Him in.

I sent up all my worries. And all my gratitude too. I had been feeling like I was trying to hold onto so much. You know how when you roll out pizza dough you can roll it too thin in some places and it starts to break? That was my heart trying to hold onto so much that I just might burst. So I pleaded with God to take the wheel. I realized for all that love I was feeling, He has even more. And He will take the wheel if I let Him. He has the power to carry everyone through, all the friends and family and different things I was holding onto.

As I worked to let God hold some of my heart, it actually expanded rather than breaking, and repaired rather than ripping apart.

I do believe He’s got this. I need to let Him lead.

Home

And that’s finally a wrap for all the connecting going on in Utah.

There was something so good about following behind this favorite person of mine to get home in time for church.

And to sit with his arm wrapped around me praising God for everything.