I was re-reading this the other day, and it reminded me of a fabulous friend of mine. First let me just say that you should go read what I was reading, especially if you are a woman, but even if you are not, because it is beautiful and inspired and inspiring (yes, both of those!). Now I will tell you about my fabulous friend!
Several years ago, I had a little taste of heaven. Andrew and I had the exciting opportunity to move from our cozy one bedroom apartment into a two bedroom apartment with a washer & dryer and a big kitchen! We were living in style, and we were thrilled. We created many wonderful memories in that place, including bringing two sweet little boys into our family. But next to the birth of our sons, do you know what the best thing about living in that apartment was? Believe it or not, it wasn't the washer and dryer. It wasn't even the kitchen.
It was our neighbors.
Being the hermits that we are, it took us many months before we worked up to more than a casual greeting with our lovely neighbors, and to this day, I still regret that wasted time. Because these people are golden. Seriously. Coated in gold. We developed a friendship that continued to grow over the years that we lived across the three foot expanse between our front door and theirs, and has even continued to grow when those three feet grew to thousands of miles between us. Christina and I both had babies within weeks of each other, her first and my second; both sweet, chubby little boys. You mothers can understand what I am talking about when I explain the heaven it was to take two steps out into the hall in your pajamas to ask for help from someone you trusted and who you knew would actually help you.
"Do you have a cup of sugar I can borrow since I'm in the middle of making cookies and didn't think to check for all the ingredients beforehand, even though Andrew keeps on reminding me that I need to do that so I stop getting myself into all these scrapes?"
"Wanna go to the park since it's a beautiful day and I'd much rather go with a friend than all alone?"
"How about you watch my kids while I run to the store, and I'll pick up whatever you need too?"
"Can you drive me to the doctor, since my baby is hurt and I have to hold him on the way there?"
"Are you feeling a little lonely like me and would you like to just sit around and talk while our babies munch on each other?"
Isn't this what life is supposed to be like? Or heaven anyway. Shouldn't we all be surrounded by people that we love and who love us back. By people who are always willing to lend a helping hand, and we'd do all we could for them as well. By people who understand us--and love us anyway. By friends & family who are close enough to really be there when we need them. I hate the distance that separates me from so many of the people I love most in the world. My dream is to one day have what I had a little taste of for a little while. To live in VERY close proximity with all the people I love. Is that really too much to ask?
Maybe part of the earthly aspect of all this is to learn how to develop closer relationships with people we DON'T know very well, and to be the kind of neighbor who others can turn to with confidence, even if we aren't family or best friends.
But I digress. Back to my friend and mentor. Christina is talented in so many ways, that I won't be able to touch on them all in this post. Not even close. She does not have her own business yet, but you are lucky that I am letting the secret out now, because one day she will be famous, and you'll be prepared. Plus, right now she generously shares her overflowing ideas and genius on her blog, so you can share her brilliance for free. Right now, anyway.
Christina is from a lovely place called Nova Scotia. And when I say lovely, I mean that when we had the chance to go visit them while they were living there, I wanted to move there. Right away. And I don't often want to move. And we were visiting during the winter too. It really is a lovely place.
Christina can cook. And I mean, really cook. She is like one of those chefs with their own show on the Food Network, only much better. She can cook ANYTHING. And do you know what the best thing is...she makes it look easy. Not in that annoying, "Oh, this five course meal I just prepared took me like two seconds, so anyone should be able to do it" kind of way, but in a really humble, encouraging "Look how easy this is, I'll show you how" kind of way that really made me believe that I just might be able to pull off making that divine Oreo Chocolate Cheesecake that was one of the best things I've ever tasted, including my love affair with The Cheesecake Factory's chocolate mousse cheesecake. Yes, that's how good it was. Or that Peach Trifle that was made with homemade pound cake and fresh peaches and real cream and if I could have just kept that taste in my mouth, I could probably just stop eating forever and be happy. But it's not just amazing, incredible desserts she can make with style. This woman makes her own bread, crackers, bagels, and yogurt, just to name a few.
Her easy-going attitude and willingness to teach has kept me in the kitchen and kept my family from starving. See, I didn't always like to cook. Kind of hated it. Or I told myself I did anyway. I never really tried it enough to know for sure. Back in the days of weekly dish and dinner nights growing up in my house, I would trade with my sister and do her dish night if she'd cook on my dinner night. My poor mom (who is a fabulous cook) never had a chance with me. So when I came to college and first had my own apartment, the cooking began. It was okay. But just. After getting married, I gained the tiniest bit of desire to really create a nice meal, and an even tinier bit of hope that I could. Enter Christina. All of a sudden I have a friend and neighbor who is creating edible masterpieces on a daily basis--JUST BECAUSE SHE FELT LIKE IT. It was truly amazing to me. Plus, she would invite us over on a regular basis to help eat up whatever masterpiece she had just made.
"I've got a lot of extra dinner tonight, do you want to come over?"
Did she smell the disaster that was going to be our dinner, or was she just that nice and generous? I don't know, probably both.
And little by little, I learned a few skills and tips that gave me a little more confidence. Like the secret to how Christina ALWAYS had homemade cookies fresh out of the oven at a moments notice. She would make a large batch of dough, form it into balls, and freeze them. Then, pop in the frozen dough balls into the oven and bake as usual whenever you want a few-or a lot-of cookies in less than ten minutes. Cool, huh? She also shared with me a few cookbooks that are complete winners from the first page to the last. Not like those cookbooks which have one or two recipes you would really use, but cookbooks where you can randomly pick any recipe inside its pages, and it will come out good. I won't give away all her secrets, but she freely shared with me all kinds of ideas for how to make cooking easy and fun, and I pretty much feel grateful for her every time I'm in the kitchen.
Okay, moving on...she can sew. And the things she sews are always darling and, once again, she makes them sound simple enough that even I would try to pull out the dusty machine for that project.
She is such a fun mom. The kind of mom that I dream of being. One of those moms who is always doing something new and exciting with their kids just because they know how happy their children will be. I'm working on that--right now I'm feeling pretty boring. But I know where to look for ideas! Like when we were visiting them in Nova Scotia and it snowed and so Christina said, "Let's make snow ice cream and hot chocolate!" The most I had mastered was pouring some juice over fresh snow to make 'snow cones' and using some kind of powder to make hot chocolate. Christina pulls out a recipe for snow ice cream and makes her own real hot chocolate. And look how much fun it was...
Or like the time she decided to create a royal ball with her kids after they read Cinderella. Or what about when she made these drums with her kids just for fun?
She's not just an amazing mom to her own children, she's one of those women who has a real gift with loving everyone else's children too. She was a second mother to my boys when we were lucky enough to live so close, and even now when we get the rare chance to get together, she has a real gift for making kids feel comfortable and happy around her.
She's got a pretty cool husband too, and I've always admired the love and respect and gratitude they continuously show for each other. Plus it doesn't get much better than two women being able to sit and talk while their husbands enjoy talking together just as much!
Christina is always creating something new or beautiful or enriching or useful or inspiring. But the thing I admire most about her, is how she is always working so hard to create the kind of life she wants for herself and her family. It is so easy to let life just take over and sweep us away into its crazy vastness. She purposely does not let this happen to her. She creates the life she wants through thoughtful decisions on a daily basis. If you visit her blog, you will get a small glimpse of what I am talking about. And if you go read that talk, you'll know why it reminded me of her. Thanks Christina, for being the kind of friend who is constantly inspiring me to be a better person, while still making me feel good about the person I am right now.
Oh, and isn't she just the most darling pregnant woman?
