Idioms

We had friends over the other night and played one of my favorite games. Well, the teens and adults played the game while the younger ones went outside and shot each other with potato guns until that got old and they just threw potatoes at each other. Good Midwest fun right there!

The rest of us played what we call "fax machine" but has been marketed as Telestrations. You have a packet of papers and write an idiom on the top, then pass it so the next person draws a picture, the next person writes the phrase they think is captured in that picture and so on around the table. None of us were amazing artists.

This is especially fun to play with a mixed group whose idioms are not known to each other (and with me who makes them up). I told Kirt the other night not to throw the whole ball of wax at me. He just looked at me and shook his head, "What does that mean?" He's lucky to be married to me and get so many neck exercises.

"Don't kick a cow when it's down" (I try to be inclusive with idioms and "man" just seemed too exclusive) turned into "Let's club the bear with our buddy." 

"The blind leading the naked" led to many inappropriate illustrations but ultimately another 80s song, "Shot through the heart and you're to blame." 

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch" turned into "A time to die." 

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again" turned into "A bird in the hand is better than dropping it." 

We laughed for a couple of hours and it was good. Friendship is a lovely thing. We are blessed with many wonderful friends here, but I've also been trying over the past couple of years to reconnect with friends I lost somewhere in the chaos of small children.

Only the best of friends wear
vampire teeth together in the pool

That's been an incredible gift. I've enjoyed rekindling relationships with those who keep me grounded and giggling. That's really all I look for in a friend.

But, in the midst of reconnecting, I've also had to take time to grieve those friends lost. It's hard to think about some of the ones who have actually died. I'm way too young for that shit. But, I also have to mourn those I've lost either through laziness, differences, or tensions. 

I miss my soul sister tremendously at times. We laughed and loved each other. We traveled and worked together. I never imagined my life without her, but then we started living in very different realities. Her reality involved aliens, past lives, and all organic foods. I could handle the first two, but the last put me over the edge. It's hard to look at the pictures where we are inseparable and think of all the years that have passed without speaking, let alone the fact I wouldn't even know where to find her.

There are others who I never imagined a life without, but somehow a Christmas card doesn't even get exchanged. It sucks, but I suppose it's good preparation for dying: the hard work of letting go and finding new life. You treasure what was lovely and forgive what was not.

Before I grow too maudlin and start singing Michael W. Smith, Friends are friends forever . . . , just remember what I always say, "I have a happy belly button!" (That one started out as "pizza is good" - famous teen idiom).