Choices

More Joy

Dobby the house elf is an important ingredient in this tale.  House elves can only be freed if a human gives them clothing.

One of the finest gifts life can bring us is friendship.  I have a dear friend of 39 years (OMG! That many?) who is as close a confidante as anyone could wish.  In spite of the fact that we have lived in different states most of those years and see each other seldom, we stay in close contact.  I can call and whine about anything and be totally supported.  If I whine about the same thing too many times she supports me by gently reminding me to get over it.  We like the same food and music and books and movies.  Harry Potter is a favorite, and Dobby the house elf stole our hearts. 

We talk often and laugh every time we talk, even when part of the conversation is about something sad or difficult.  We hardly ever send each other gifts because both of our houses are already full of too much stuff.  But every now and then…….

Last week we were mutually bemoaning the fact that our joints are in such a state neither of us can tolerate spike heels any more.  I told her I was making up for the loss by wearing brightly colored and patterned socks with my Sketchers.  She admitted to only wearing plain black, brown or blue socks.  We finished our conversation making cracks about our joints, (no pun intended) and laughing hysterically about some of the ensuing limitations.  We hung up and I had a sudden flash of genius, logged on to Amazon and successfully shopped for socks; brightly colored with patterns of peace signs or kittens or lightening.

She got the socks yesterday and immediately called.  “Dobby is free!  Dobby is free!” she squealed.  It took a minute, but when it hit me we were both laughing hysterically again.  If you knew us better you would understand the squealing importance of “FREE” but all I’ll say is that it has nothing to do with ever being jailbirds.

This story has everything to do with the joy of friendship; having one person who shares your likes and dislikes, joys and concerns, and rolls on the floor with you, laughing until you are both snorting, just because of a silly phone call.  It’s like we’re two eight year olds playing in a mud puddle, and as each year goes by we get younger.  We are getting very close, at least with each other, to being such  young innocents we have no knowledge of danger or suspicion or distrust or fear.  Acting like a little child is a very joyful thing.

Wishing you the joy of great friendship this holiday season and every coming year.