The Whole Kristen ca-Doodle

Wanna know one of the approximately 75,000 things that amazes me about children? Sure you do.  It astonishes and impresses me how quickly and easily children, especially young children, can befriend each other.  You might've noticed it too, on a playground, a birthday party, meeting up with your adult friends and their kiddos, or even the first day of school.  Even when another child is a perfect stranger, after a bit of a warming up period, longer for some temperaments than others, those two (or more!) strangers are soon best buddies.  It is like all they can see in each other is a potential playmate.  I imagine their unspoken dialogue like this: Click here to download the Let's Be Kids doodle. It is a beautiful, magical skill that seems to unfortunately fade as we age.  With wisdom, with age, with growth, with knowledge, with experience, somehow also comes a degree of mistrust, a tendency to withdraw, a dangerous habit of comparison, and perhap...

I am so extremely grateful. I have an incredible support system (AKA tribe) that I rely on, that builds me up, that makes me giggle and belly-laugh, that prays for me and asks for my prayers in return, that talks with me about trivial fluff and challenges me to think and discuss weighty topics, that loves on and takes care of my children, that loves on and takes care of me.  I am convinced that what makes this beautiful, tough, precious life so beautiful are the colorful strands of relationship that knit it together.   My tribe has sub-tribes. I suspect yours does too.  I have my gym friends, my mom friends, my church friends, my PTA friends, my old friends, etc.  And, of course they overlap.   I have neighbor friends who dote on my children and celebrate them with me, watching our kids play together while we chat over a glass of wine, or helping each other out with child care duties.  I have gym friends who sweat with me and sweat the sma...