Week 3.15: Mon Ami

Week 3.15: Mon Ami is from my trip home a couple of weeks ago...I love this for lots of reasons...

Reason Number One: I was with one of Mon Ami when I took it.

Reason Number Two: I was in one of my favorite cities: Santa Fe.

Reason Number Three: It didn't cost me any money to bring this home with me.

Reason Number Four: The bird is on the outside of the cage...Not so important to a lot of people, but important to at least a few of Mon Ami.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that Mon Ami symbolizes friendship and freedom in my mind's eye.

Friendships that let you drop your guard and allow you to accept where your friend is...or isn't. The freedom to be honest...The freedom to love...the freedom to look at your friend who feels caged and remind them that the door to your heart is open.

Freedom to show up unannounced...in pajamas...without makeup. Freedom to admit failures...Freedom to confess that you hit a kid riding a bicycle...or screamed at the kids...or wrecked the car (and it was totally your fault)...or still haven't finished writing your wedding "thank yous"...or cried yourself to sleep...again.

Freedom to confess your dreams. Freedom to say you did something "big." Freedom to share your epiphany. Freedom to brag about a kid unabashedly. Freedom to love deeply.

Freedom is a funny thing that way. It can come off as a positive or negative...and be the opposite in reality. It can be what we long for...and dread. It can be more than a dream come true...or a nightmare.

I've been talking to a few of Mon Ami in the past few weeks and hearing their versions of freedom...And one of the loveliest freedoms of all came last weekend and landed in my home. Two of my best friends drove seven hours north to see me. Yep. Just to spend the weekend with me. No husbands...no kids. Just the two girls.

It was lovely to have Mon Ami alight in my town. Two little birds who love me. Who tell me when they think I'm wrong. Who challenge me. Who encourage me. Who help me look for lost things. Who help me remember what I've already found. Who hug me. Who smile at me. Who let me be who I am...Who understand and embrace the fact that I am a girl with a girl heart and girl brain.

I am so grateful that both of Mon Ami have encouraging husbands who push us out of the nest to spend an afternoon in Santa Fe or a weekend together in Colorado. I'm still waiting for more Mon Ami to show up here in my new town...I have a few leads. In the meantime, it's nice to know Mon Ami knows no boundaries or limits. No time constraints. No separation in hearts. It's been one of the only things that kept me from being crazy lonely in this past year...I'm so thankful to you, my friends...You know who you are.