Saturday Shout Out: Thanks for the connection

Sometimes I wonder how we are still friends. Other times I wonder if we should have only been friends all along. Either way, I'm glad to call you friend.

I have thought of you often over the years, wondering what your unique take on things might be, wanting to ask you but not feeling like I should.

I'm glad, after all these years, we connected again. And not just running into each other, catching up, saying hi. We really connected. We hadn't been able to be real for a while. There was a layer of relational funk still hanging around. But you came to town and, whatever changed, we could be real again. We could enjoy deep conversation and respect for each other. We could be ourselves and innocently and honestly enjoy the other person for just who they are. We could say things that may have hurt to say in the past. We could connect without fear or nervousness about what might happen, good or bad. We could just be two individuals interacting authentically.

Thanks for really listening. Thanks for asking me what I think. Thanks for challenging what I think. Thanks for picking me up late at night. Thanks for stargazing. Thanks for playing loud music and letting me exist as is. Thanks for being a safe place to let my guard down.

For months I have been longing for a conversation like we had that night. I have wanted to speak as passionately as I feel and not be questioned or rebuked but just heard. I have wanted to go back and forth with someone who could respectfully offer their own opinion, not in order to convince me of it but to have a healthy and helpful discussion of ideas. Even if you thought I was wrong on certain points, thanks for not treating me like I was wrong or laughing at my point of view.

I have hidden parts of me from many people for too long. With you under the stars, I could break out of the mold that was keeping me small. I could bear my soul. I could look out into the vastness of the night and feel limitless, part of everything, one with the world, open and set free and at peace.

The freedom of that night is not something I will soon forget. Thank you for the part you have played in my story. Thank you for setting me free under the stars. Thank you for your connection and for the ways you have perhaps unknowingly helped me connect with my true self, time and time again.