inner spirit rekindled

This, my friends, is Mary.

She is who I want to be when I grow up.  ;)

There are two quotes that come to mind when I think of Mary.

"People will forget what you said, 

people will forget what you did,  

but people will never forget how you made them feel." 

-Maya Angelou

The other is 

"People naturally like people who find them interesting. "

Mary is the living, breathing version of these two quotes. When you are with Mary, she sees only you.  She remembers what you say, what's important to you, and she loves her friends wholly.

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Tuesday I came downstairs from putting the boys to bed and Josh said Susan had called an Emergency Girls Nite, so I threw on my Uggs and ran over.  I let myself in as Leah beckoned me, and I was about to plop myself on the couch next to Leah as Susan began telling me the subject matter that necessitated an emergency girls night when she suddenly says, "Well, why don't I have Mary tell you about it?"

Mary magically appears from the kitchen and there is sudden screaming (!!!) and hugging (!!!) and crying (on my part) and then the real party began!  I was so happy to see her and the last three days have been a blur of hanging out and soaking her up. I love talking to her about life, love and everything in between.  She has been like a breath of fresh air.

Last year she was Josh's sanity at the school (they were classroom neighbors) and she was my sanity when I needed another grown up to talk to.  We both love her!  She's living in Dutch Harbor now and loving the adventure of it.  She inspires me to see life as more of a journey, enjoying the ride, the ups and downs, taking it as it comes as opposed to planning out every detail.

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"We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit."

-Albert Schweitzer