the fellowship of kindred minds

Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away.   --Dinah Craik

This has always been my favorite quote on friendship. I've been blessed with some wonderful friends, but my husband is the only person who has ever personified this quote to me. When I think of these words, I think of him. A man who knows all the dirty little secrets about the real me and truly loves all of me anyway. When you find someone to whom you can blurt out how you really think and feel knowing they accept you and love you anyway, you've found a true friend.

 

Recently we've made some new friends that we can completely be ourselves with. There is no pretense or showing off, just acceptance. Faults and all. We're in that blissful early stage of friendship--not just any friendship but one that makes you giddy just thinking about it, where you feel inexplicably compelled to go out and buy something or make something for that person just to have some kind of tangible evidence that it is really real--kind of a crush stage, but without the painful self-doubt. We have so much in common that we've kept the kids up way past bedtime night after night and even had a few sleepovers just so we could stay up late and talk. But it is so much more than that. For everything I find we have in common, I find something else that makes us different and that's the best part: truly connecting with other people on the deepest levels, the sense of community that's created out of it, and the confidence you can have that you are completely accepted and understood.

We met Shannon and Jonathan at the church building when after a service, Shannon asked me about the art journal I had been doodling in. It turns out she is an amazing artist who paints the most beautiful life sized murals and is looking for some new inspiration and a new direction for her art. Of course, I had to embarrass myself by going on and on about art journaling and mixed media and everything else that popped into my head right at that moment, but she saw past all of that and it wasn't long before I was thinking "it feels like we've known each other forever" and "she's the sister I always wanted" and other cliches like that we find ourselves using as we struggle to comprehend how we can feel so strongly for another person, especially someone we've just met.

 

Like I said, Shannon is just diving into the world of mixed media and having so much fun with it. When the kids and I returned from Austin after the hurricane, I found sitting on my  kitchen table this beautiful wine box she made for me as a homecoming present. I'm already mulling around ideas for several things I want to make for her. Because I know whatever it is, she'll love it. Not only will she understand and appreciate all that was poured into its creation but she'll love it because she loves me. It is so true: the fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.

Comments

[Julie Prichard]

It's an AMAZING feeling to feel so connected to someone like that!

[kari Gibson]

I LOVE that gift - she has talent!

[Gwen Delmore]

Whoa! That wine container is incredible, and I am so happy that you have made some REALLY good friends. Most of my friends who "get" me live thousands of miles from us.

[Nathalie Brault]

What a beautiful gift you have there. You are very lucky to have a friend like this and her like you. You preserve that friendship. They don't happen too often in life