Friends

I live now in a place that is the most permanent place I have ever lived.  It is a place I feel comfortable and safe.  I don't wait for a knock on the door every month telling me to leave and have no fear of being asked to leave because love has been replaced with discontentment.  Yet this is the loneliest place I have ever lived.  A place that was never my "hometown" is the place I feel most welcomed and the place my heart longs to be.  A place that, when I get the chance to visit, is somewhat constant and predictable.  A place full of real embraces, honest smiles and generational faith.  This place loved me for who I was once they got over the initial adjustment and who loved my unborn child as much as family should.  They are the people who come the distance to fill my home with laughter and give my arms friends to hug back with hugs that are real and that say "I'm so glad to see you! So glad you are here.". 

Today I will wear a jacket that a bride remembered to bring for me on her wedding day.  A jacket that was thoughtfully purchased by the most unsuspecting friend.  A considerate and warm gesture by the new wife of one of my best friends who has no need for my friendship but embraces me anyway.  With tears I will dress today for a job at a place where no one cares to really know me and if tomorrow I disappeared, would never know I was ever there and I will wear a jacket that will keep me as warm as the thoughts I have of an afternnoon spent at "home" with some of my most special friends.