a time to dance

To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven…
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance
– Ecclesiastes 3: 1,4

This scripture was in my daily devotion today, and so true to my life right now. In the past weeks I have wept, mourned, laughed and tonight danced. On the way home from my bible study, I cranked up the Black Eyed Peas new CD and my kids and I were dancing in the car at the stoplight – the woman next to us was looking at us and smiling (I think she actually goes to church with me – ha ha!). All three of us bopping around in the car – I am sure we were quite a site. When we got home Sam wanted to dance some more so like we do sometimes we put the CD in and danced around the kitchen until we were worn out. It was a beautiful end to a day full of anxiety.

And my cup truly runneth over. I checked my email, and got a message from Daline – we are doing this Best Year of Your Life thing together – and one of our exercises is to ask a couple people whose opinion we respect what are two things we admire about the other person. Below I am pasting her email to me (with her permission). When I read it I thought, I can now die happy knowing that someone on this planet truly understands me and gets what I've wanted someone to understand my whole life. As I said, friends are the true soul mates. Amen to that.

Wendee Finlay. Wendee Holtcamp. Wendee. Wen. Friend. Soul sister.

Two things I admire about my soul sister, Wen:

Enthusiasm and Determination.

Wendee reminds me of the energizer bunny. She gets an idea and she goes with it and
doesn't stop until it happens. She thinks in possibilities. She doesn't just dream; she succeeds. In college, she seemed to have the elusive balance. She treated school like a 9-5 job, maintained a 4.0 and had time to play. When she wanted to stay home with her children, she taught herself how to create websites to create income from home. She defended her Masters thesis with ease and grace just after giving birth to her first child.

Wendee is a glass half full kind of gal. She doesn't waste time complaining, describing in detail the texture of the glass and how full it used to be and how the people and events in her life have drank from her cup and now it's only 49.98% full. Wendee grabs the pitcher and fills it back up. She sees life as a puzzle: nothing is impossible, just create a plan and do it. Many times, when I have been afraid that I can't do something or have wanted to give up, I have thought of her and all that she has accomplished with very little help. She falls down, she gets right back up. She steers off course, she adjusts her sail. Through it all, she hangs on to the child-like enthusiasm that makes her so endearing.

I can picture Wendee as a little girl running through a field of sunflowers, eyes bright and shining, laughing without a care in the world, completely immersed in the moment.

She's still that little girl, and no one will ever convince her that dreams are for children, that you have to grow up and settle. Some people have enthusiasm, but run in circles. Some people have determination, yet are uninspired and self-limiting. In possessing both, a person can move mountains. In Wendee's world, you don't grow up and give up your dreams, you grow up and learn how to make them come true.

Whiners of the world. meet your savior.