Too Much Monkey Business

In the past 2 weeks, the 3 Musketeers have received Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles coloring pages in the mail from one cousin and have witnessed another cousin show off his choreographed dance moves to this little ditty:

Prior to this, they had little interest in the Heroes in a Half Shell or their Turtle Powers.

The tide has turned, my friends, the tide has turned.

Unfortunately (?) we don't have any turtle costumes, and only have one very small plush turtle toy.

My boys do not lack imagination, though, and have adapted the classic characters to fit their needs. I would like to take this moment to introduce you to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Monkeys:

Rafael

Leonardo

Donatello

Michelangelo

They're the world's most fearsome fighting team

At least those little monkeys aren't jumping on the bed anymore.

Lessons Learned as a Brownie

Make new friends
But keep the old.
One is silver 
And the other's gold.

When you are a 5-year-old little girl singing this song with your Brownie troop, it's hard to understand the concept of "old friends."

However, when you are a 30-something and have lived literally all over the Western Hemisphere, the lesson really starts to sink in.

All of my old friends were once new friends.

And I sincerely hope my new friends will stick with me long enough to make that slow slide into the "old friends" category. Those folks who know your history and, although they may not have been a part of your day-to-day for the last howevermany years (apart from facebook status updates and uploaded photos), when you sit down to talk with them or get a phone call, it is as if no time has passed at all. There is catching up to do on the particulars, but the friendship has been able to traverse any gaps in time or space effortlessly. These are the people who understand your heart and soul, who have stood the test of time, whose relationship with you has mellowed like a good red wine.

This is not to undervalue the new friends, though. These are the people who walk beside you in the here and now. Your colleagues, your fellow soccer moms, your church family. You may not share a history with these folks, but you share a present, and their influence and inspiration will help to shape your future.

I feel incredibly blessed to have old friends spread all across the globe. If you happen to be reading this, know I love and cherish you...even when I allow life to get in the way of keeping in touch. I am doubly blessed to be living where I am now, where I have both old and new friends.

I get to have the best of the "silver" and the "gold" nearby.

I have some coffee on (always). Come sit on my front porch with me.