once upon a time...

a long time ago we lived in murrieta. for me it seems like last year, sometimes it seems like a dream...however for the folks who saw hunter and eden yesterday, it became a reality for me that it wasnt yesterday. when we left in 2001, hunter was about to enter 1st grade, eden 3rd. i can still see that little boy and girl in front of me like holograms sometimes. so the shock of my old friends seeing these kids yesterday all grown up is understandable. 

we attended the missionary homecoming of derrick hales...a darling boy who served a successful mission in baltimore maryland. our families were close, back in the day when together we had 9 little ones in our entourage. when hunter and ashley held hands while venturing into their first day of kindergarten and derrick was famous for a glorious (and very realistic) chicken noise we all thought was so funny. so fun to go back and rub shoulders with wonderful people, including the dowdens who became an extension of our family, quite literally because we were all of 2 houses away. i was "mama #2" to those kids, and she was "mama #2" to mine. we shared lots of family dinners together, carpool duties and even a wonderful lake powell trip spent on their houseboat. grandpa and grandma murphy were in between us too, so we got the benefits of even extended grandparents, who came in handy when it was time to kill rats who had climbed into garbage disposals...(yes, you heard me right...this story deserves a post of its own) and who shared their home grown crookneck squash with us in the summer. the memories i have could fill pages and pages of blog posts, they could go on forever and ever. those memories near and dear to my heart, will stay there, a permanent fixture. they are like precious gems i desperately hold onto. and the frosting on the cake is when we do occasionally see these fine folks...it seems like we never left. 

the same warmth and closeness front and center. 

so when it was time to go, and we got in the car, my kids expressed their feelings to me in such a wonderful way. the happy, good feelings oozing out of them...they felt loved, they felt special and they know good people when they see them. they were using the words "down to earth" and "loving" and "great". they were almost amazed at the love shown to them...the warmth they felt. 

the warmth that only true and loyal friends have to give.

so thank you dear friends for being great examples of how 

we should be and how we should live our lives. 

your warmth will never be outdone. 

(and see, diana...the photo turned out cute!)