Nicole feels

Our houseguests left yesterday afternoon in the midst of my college-Monday schedule. The first three days of the week are craziness for me. To go along with the routine busy-ness that is my early week, Rob leaves to go out of town tomorrow afternoon, which has meant extra clothes washing and packing (I know, I know, pitiful, but it is just easier for me to pack his bag than to listen to him tear through the confusion that is our bedroom trying to find what he needs). Then there were the kid fundraisers due at school, a r�sum� client and a ministry coordinator meeting yesterday, for which I did na-da to prepare. Not to mention the sad fact that I got virtually no homework done over the weekend.

The latter was worth it though (well, at least it seems to be right now; I haven�t got the results back from my algebra test) since I spent what would usually be study time with our friends.

S & K are the kind of friends that we can be ourselves with. No airs. Just us. The kind of friends you can be talking with about your life�s work or marital challenges one minute, bodily functions the next (for the record, it was the guys who seemed bent on discussing the finer art of gaseous secretions). Crying together in one instant; belly-laughing the next.

Considering the profession my husband chose, this doesn�t happen very often. We have good friends here, folks who care about us and whom we care about. But there are some parts of our lives, the part that is distinctly �us� that we can�t really share with most of the folks we know and love.

They just don�t understand. And that�s okay.

But we all need safe places, places where we can be us, a place where I can be me.

The four of us attended a conference together about 2.5 years ago, and a rather intensive one at that, so there is no reason, or want-to, for pretense. They know we have issues; we know they have issues. We can laugh about it, talk about it, encourage and challenge one another.

We had a rough few weeks leading up to this visit. So, I really needed it. We needed it. I think they needed it too, as they have only been back in the states a few months (they relocated abroad in 2002, and plan to go back early next year). They hinted at what a great team we would all make �over there.�

Stranger things have happened, I suppose. I did find it interesting to learn that about 30% of the population over there speak the language I am considering for my minor.

A good weekend finished, only to dive into a whirlwind week head first.

I can barely catch my breath.

But the feeling is reminiscent of recovering from uncontrollable giggles rather than the stressful dashing about that is my life right now.

And I will hold on to that feeling just as long as I can.