Here's to you.

There are certain people in my life who recharge my batteries.
The first is, of course, Kevin. He is my favorite person in the world. The other day we got a babysitter and ran a few errands together. It was so refreshing to just talk and laugh. As we sat in the car waiting at a red light he made me laugh really hard. I found myself turning to to window, wanting to tell the person in the car next to me that I was probably the happiest person in the world. I really was tempted to roll down my window and shout it to that stranger in his truck, but that would be rediculous. Maybe that's why people use twitter? So they can shout out to the world "my husband makes me so happy" whenever they may get the urge. It's a more acceptable way of getting it out there I suppose. But I don't "tweet", so I just had to tell him instead. He loved it, he already knew it, but he loved it anyway.

The second, of course, is my mother Jane. I can call her in the midst of chaos and she'll help me laugh at it. I can tell her all the awful things I've done in a day and she'll convince me I'm still a good mom. I can go home to her in Washington if my batteries get especially low and she will provide just the right mix of nurture and pep to make me feel alive again. She adores my children and makes me see that what I'm doing is the best thing in the world, even if I'm not doing the best job of it at times. No matter the trouble that comes up in her life (and lately she's had more than her share) she is calm and trusts in the Lord and helps me apply that perspective to my days.

The third, I would have to say, is my friend Marne. I've talked about her before, though not often. She lives 45 minutes away, and venturing that distance with little children is difficult. And as I am not a phone talker, we don't connect as often as I would like. But every so often I'll NEED to see her. I'll know it in my soul that it is the cure for whatever may be ailing me. So we get together, as we did last night. We'll bring our families together and eat great food and play dance dance revolution and talk and laugh and love eachother's children. And go home filled. And then she'll call or send an email to say how glad she is that we got together, because she knows I'm not great at this friend thing, and that kind of reassurance means the world to me.

And then there is you, dear reader. I know it sounds needy, maybe nerdy too, but it's true. I leave these ramblings about my life, my thoughts, just out there for the world to see. And you read it and say nice things, supportive things, helpful things, interesting things, and I feel energized. I feel surrounded by people, adult people who care. And it's that dose of meaningful connection that helps me stay sane some days, to appreciate the humor in the difficult days, to more completely love the wonderful life that I have. Because I can share a part of it with you. This isn't a shameless plug for comments, really. Sitemeter tells me about 35 people come to read my blog consistantly each day and it's enough for me to know that you were here. Honestly.

So thank you for coming. It means a lot to me.