I've waited here for you
Everlong
This is a story about a grey sweater. I flew to Silicon Valley to do some training last week and
I stayed with my BFF and when I arrived we started talking about the outfits I
was planning to wear during training and I told her I couldn’t wear my grey
sweater tomorrow because it smelled a little too much like planes and rental
cars and me, so Pat put my sweater in the washer.
The next morning I found a grey sweater in
her closet and I borrowed it since mine wasn’t dry yet.
I left the house before she got up but when I
returned in the evening she was just coming home too and she hugged me in the
driveway, then she backed away and said, “Is that my grey sweater?” I looked down and remembered that yes, yes it
was and she hugged me again and said, “I love that you would borrow my sweater
without asking!”
And I found myself
surrounded by not one but two layers of warmth and softness.
I throw myself into
And out of the red
Out of her head she sang
This is a story about liquid oxygen. The kids and I flew to Beijing for Chinese New Year and
Grant was feeling congested in the plane so we bought a couple of holistic
remedies from the duty free magazine.
One was a small bottle of oxygen drops that you can put in your water
and the bottle claims that it hydrates and helps prevent jet lag. Grant and I were in. As we opened the bottle, Audrey looked at me
with great skepticism and asked what the ingredients were. I read the bottle, “Water, hydrogen peroxide, sodium chloride...“
She nodded. “Yeah, and what’s
missing there?”
I looked at Grant and he said, “Oxygen is everywhere, they probably don’t need to add it.” I nodded.
And I pointed out that the bottle was a nice blue glass bottle and Grant noted that the needle dropper was also made out of glass and we concluded that that was a hallmark of quality pharmaceuticals.
And we dropped 10 drops each into our water bottles.
I looked at Grant and he said, “Oxygen is everywhere, they probably don’t need to add it.” I nodded.
And I pointed out that the bottle was a nice blue glass bottle and Grant noted that the needle dropper was also made out of glass and we concluded that that was a hallmark of quality pharmaceuticals.
And we dropped 10 drops each into our water bottles.
And I felt myself snuggled between my outspoken and
critical-thinking daughter and my faith-filled and adventurous son.
So I can breathe you in
Hold you in
This is a story about a cup of coffee that I never got. There is a special man in my life now and if someone has a
better word than “boyfriend” would you please give it to me because I’m no
longer twelve and need a better word than “boyfriend” and I don’t like
“partner”.
And he lives far away so we have to make great efforts to see each other in person and recently he re-routed some of his business travel so he could be in Nashville when the kids and I returned - fully oxygenated, mind you - from China so that he could give us a hug and a tray full of Starbucks before he made his way east and home.
But we got way-laid on the way from China and I will spare you my sob story of why but the net effect was that we were not in Nashville to receive the coffee or the hugs and my guy (we’ll settle for that for now) made his way east before we got to see him. And I was terribly disappointed and so was he but as we texted later that night we came to an important realization together, which is that we are not in control of how things work out and God always has plans that are bigger and better than the ones we make and if we keep filling our lives with our own plans we don’t leave any space for God to do his work.
And so we prayed together over FaceTime and thanked God for the space he had just created in our lives, and we asked him to do His work there.
And he lives far away so we have to make great efforts to see each other in person and recently he re-routed some of his business travel so he could be in Nashville when the kids and I returned - fully oxygenated, mind you - from China so that he could give us a hug and a tray full of Starbucks before he made his way east and home.
But we got way-laid on the way from China and I will spare you my sob story of why but the net effect was that we were not in Nashville to receive the coffee or the hugs and my guy (we’ll settle for that for now) made his way east before we got to see him. And I was terribly disappointed and so was he but as we texted later that night we came to an important realization together, which is that we are not in control of how things work out and God always has plans that are bigger and better than the ones we make and if we keep filling our lives with our own plans we don’t leave any space for God to do his work.
And so we prayed together over FaceTime and thanked God for the space he had just created in our lives, and we asked him to do His work there.
And although he and I were separated by a thousand miles of
customs and immigrations and security and roller boards and gate agents and pretzels and diet Sprites and and
baggage carousels, I have never felt so close to my guy.
And I wonder
When I sing along with you
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again
When I sing along with you
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again
These were stories about nothing and everything. And you read them, which means you are a part of my everything. Thank you for being here with me.
The only thing I'll ever ask of you
You gotta promise not to stop when I say when I say when
You gotta promise not to stop when I say when I say when
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