Sugar Bowl 2009

I am sitting in the New Orleans airport reflecting on the past few incredible days with friends. There are many stories, new memories made, old memories relived…and my New Year’s resolution to laugh more is absolutely off to an awesome start. My abs feel like I have been doing crunches for days—we have laughed a lot!

I have been waiting for a theme to emerge. How can I wrap this up in a neat package for a meaningful and succinct post? This afternoon it hit me.

Our travelling companions were two of my best friends from college and their husbands. Because both of those couples were high school sweethearts, I have known their spouses as long as I have known them. I have been on dozens of road trips with the four of them over the last 16 years. Because I did not marry until I was 27 years old, they know the suitors through the years who did not end up being my husband…and they invited me along as a 3rd (or 5th) wheel far more often than I had dates. We have so much history together—most meaningful because it has been through the incredible transitive phases of college, marriage, careers and babies.
We live in different states, have differently aged children and have different career paths. Yet, being together is timeless and transcends all of the differences in where we happen to be right now. For us to be building so many new memories on top of the old—and these to include my husband—is a recipe for very good times.New Orleans is crazy—the crowds, the noise, the food, the lines, the music, the smells, the art, the raunchiness, the antiques all coexisting and vying for attention. It was, at times, disorienting. We made multiple trips to the same locations to satisfy cravings for Café Du Monde’s beignets or Mr. B.’s shrimp and grits. We wandered aimlessly taking in the sights and sounds. And in the end, although I am typically a fan of a destination and a plan, I was able to let go of my need for a concrete objective and a timeline and just enjoy the journey.
We literally spent a ridiculous 2.5 hours this morning walking the streets in search of ‘the perfect breakfast.’ The conversations we had during our adventure were the richest and most enjoyable of the trip. As crazy as it sounds our wild goose chase set the stage for a meaningful time. We shared life--and we shared our hearts. It was then that it hit me: The joy is truly in the journey—and we should choose our travelling companions carefully.

As Daree, Brant, my husband and I were able to laugh at our brunch conundrum we discussed how your travel companions make all the difference. We imagined scenarios where we might be with different people and how those personalities might impact our attitude about the challenges we encountered (including that dreadful whipping my team got during last night's game!) Although the game had been the stated reason for our trip--as our weekend evolved it became almost irrelevant.

The importance of the relationships in our lives cannot be underestimated. It is no small thing to invite people to join your inner circle and 'do' life with you. Their perspectives will impact yours.
It is true of our spouses, our friends and our business partners.

Yet, we cannot miss the others who God puts in our path just for a moment. I met one of those last night at the game. His name was Tom and he was sitting directly behind us--a lone Utah fan amidst a sea of crimson. He was seated separately from his friends--and we agreed after the game it was not by accident. I cannot even tell you how it happened, but somehow in the midst of a huge, noisy football game the two of us had a deep conversation about his faith journey as he tries to define the place God has in his life as a 30 year old, raised in a faith-filled home, who is now single and preparing to deploy to Afghanistan. He was my rival. I was with my best friends. It was a very unlikely situation for connecting--and yet God arranged it. Life is just beautiful that way. I have no contact information for him--that didn't seem appropriate--but my husband and I will pray for him.

I love this wild ride of life and how circumstances that can appear so random are clearly anything but--what an amazingly creative God we serve. Here's hoping the two hour flight delay they just announced will produce something equally cool!