Those Friends

You know those friends who you simply enjoy being around? The ones who you may have barely spoken to for months but the friendship can easily pick up right where it left off. The ones who you look forward to coming to stay at your house. The ones who you can be yourself around and wind up feeling encouraged after spending time with. The ones who are easy to be parents with and around. Those friends. Yes, we are thankful for them.
We spent last weekend in Portland for a wedding and got to spend three days and two nights with the Hsiehs. We hadn't seen them since last March when they were down here for Ben's Spring Break. Ian is now part an adorable part of the family. It was so nice to see Ava (3.5) and Wyatt (2) playing together. They like each other and seem to be a great distance apart in age. Wyatt learned a lot from spiritual and imaginative Ava (praying, fishing for magnets, and slaying dragons) and it was beautiful to see them enjoy each other the way they did.
At the end of the weekend, it actually seemed like we had a longer trip than just three days. Hopefully that was not the case for our kind hosts. We relaxed on the porch swing solving the world's problems, ate the best ever mint chocolate chunk cookies, went to a dance party that reminded me of our post-Wheaton year of finding fun dance spots in Chicago, discovered a new type of horticulture called espalier, watched Thumbelina twice, chased Stormy the cat around the entire house, celebrated our consistently remarkable husbands and the fathers they have become and generally laughed a lot.
We also got to go the gorgeous and meaningful wedding of our friend Suzy. I'm still in awe of her dress (and dying that I did not get a picture of it) and twelve part toast that was much shorter than it sounds. Wyatt only interrupted the toast once with a sweet, "Hi, Suzy." Getting to see Wheaton friends from years ago was also a treat.
Rebekah's offer to have Wyatt and I stay another week was a sign that I wasn't the only one enjoying myself. If only I didn't have to rush back on Sunday night for a minor surgical procedure at Stanford on Monday. All went well and I'm home recovering with the help of narcotics and my parents who have Wyatt for the week.