Ultimate Intimate

I went to girls camp for the first time more than 35 years ago.

I made some really good friends.

There were three of us that called ourselves, "Ultimate Intimates".

We weren't even in the same ward or in the same school.

We saw each other at stake activities.

I'm not sure how it happened, but we stayed close.

At least two of us did.

We grew up together going to youth conference and stake dances.

I think we even dated the same boy once. :-)


Then it was off to college.

We went to the same one, but hung out with different crowds.

We worked together in the summer.

And after that "last single summer" we went our separate ways.

Not by choice; just by life.

She got married the summer I left on a mission.

We didn't keep in touch.

But, luckily, our parents did.


One summer, about eight years ago, my kids and I lived in Virginia with my parents.

My friend was also living there with her husband and three daughters.

We went over and had dinner with them.

It was a little chaotic with my gaggle of children.

But, we laughed and visited and got reacquainted (somewhat).

Then we moved on with life again.


Last week, my friend brought her daughter to college here.

Her mom told her I lived in the area and so she reached out.

We decided to meet up for brunch.

I can't explain the feeling I had as I saw her walking towards me.

She looked exactly the same as I remember.

I had all kinds of emotions come up.

We hugged each other for a long time and had to wipe some tears.

And then went to eat, but mostly visit.

It wasn't one of those awkward visits either.

It was real.

We talked about real stuff.

It was just the two of us this time and it was perfect.


Why is it that I would feel so close to someone and share so much with this person that I haven't talked to in eight years?

There was a real comfortableness for me.

Maybe from knowing that she knew the real me from a long time ago?

I'm sure I could get more philosophical about it.

But, really, my heart is telling it's because we truly are ultimate intimates.

Appliances

We got our first full months electric bill.

Let me just say that it wasn't pretty.

So I started thinking about what appliance I could do without to maybe help ease the pain.

It's too cold for a clothesline and I do too much laundry to use the inside one for everything.

We kind of need the refrigerator because its nice to eat non-frozen/non-rancid food.

The electric heaters in the added-on master bedroom and bathroom are already turned down as low as possible without creating icicles in the rooms. (ok, so there may be a few icicles)

That left only one large appliance left.

The dishwasher.

Which really if you think about it is just a place to hold dirty dishes anyway.

So now, I just fill the sink at the beginning of the meal with super hot sudsy water (that way by the time dinner is over, kids can stick their hands in without complaining about their skin falling off).

Then each kid is responsible for their own plate and utensils.

Dish duty for the rest of the dishes is then rotated weekly.

I decided against daily since I really wanted to give the kids a chance to master it.

And I didn't want complaining that so-an-so didn't do the dishes the night before so now they have more to do than anyone!

I like to think that my kids are learning a skill that they might need some day.

Who knows, there might still be places in the world that don't have that dirty dish holder thing.

So far it is working beautifully.

I think it makes my kids feel good to accomplish something that they think of as hard.

I'm not sure that it will really make that big of a difference in the bill, but so far I love the difference in our family.




And one bonus I didn't count on - not getting into bed and having to remember - "did I turn the dishwasher on? "