The other night we got together with the two couples who have been our safety zone for the last ten years. We have circled up over joys and heartache, even when the time between meetings stretched out over many months. 

 

We began and ended with prayer, and God spread his wings around us as we unlatched the painful corners of our lives. God is the glue that has fortified us against the gales of stressful jobs, floundering children, and loss. Our marriages will endure, even if some of our dreams washed away.

 

I am beholden to the wisdom of these people. Yet it wasn't just one evening, or five. Our connection has been built over a decade, and there is no fast track that I can find. 

 

One sliver of experience spoken that night was about when couples need to power through a tough period of school, or sleepless babies. Each person is barely hanging on, yet they are hoping, praying to find each other on the other side of the tunnel. The truth of that brief statement resonated for me. I thought of the two sets of tunnels I have traveled often. One is on the 5 Freeway in LA, and my sons used to frighten me by holding their breath through the whole shebang. The other is in western Pennsylvania on the way to Pittsburgh. I find it astonishing that those dark holes actually enable me to pierce a mountain. 

 

Two hours. That was the duration of our time together. Yet the impact of their support will sustain me for weeks until we meet again. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by Joy Feerrar

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