Friends.

(**Bonus post today, wrote this the other day and forgot to publish it on blog**)

My niece brought us this picture of Brooke and her daughter, Briona from a Christmas party we went to together. It just makes me smile and reminds me what a wonderful thing a friend can be.

I think of Brooke in a world of bigger people, since she was a later in life baby and all her siblings are over five feet tall. An early visit, by cousins her own age, were just glimpses for her, something interesting to look at as they lay side by side on a" blankie", studying one another. Then she started walking and manipulating the world around her, playing with toys, figuring out what she had to press to make them talk or move. Then the visits changed. There was this other little person she could relate to that ran in circles, had on a "Dora" shirt that she pointed to and yelled "RORA!!", and someone she could look at eye to eye without straining her neck to look up at them. Just someone that understands without a word.

They would see one another when we met to go swimming or just hang out and their joy was overwhelming. They jumped and wiggled around yelling one another's names, looking at each other and then back to their mommies so we could share in their joy too as if to say "Look,its my friend, its someone just like me!!"

As we get older, we cease to jump up and down at the sight of our friend coming through the door, but the feelings don't change that much. We smile, share a funny story, laugh together, talk through struggles with one another and share everything without fear. Inside we are still saying ,"Look, it is someone just like me, someone that understands me".