taste & see

dear new year,

   thank you--once again, for the fresh start.   usually i meet you with a long list of resolutions...things i want you to help me change.   along with the list, i harbor secret hopes and demanding expectations for your days.  i'd like to apologize for past years.  i'm so very sorry--i am a bit of a bossy dreamer.  i have these great ideas and i just get to thinking that they are the best thing for me and you.  i know typically, if we don't ride off into my whims and adventures i tend to sulk a bit.  my Creator made me quite determined to milk the most of my minutes on this earth and so sometimes i bring life to your days with my dreamy ideals and other times i kill your moments with my demands of them. i guess it's my best and worst quality.  so, as you know, i usually pack your january with a bunch of dull things i really don't like (but i think it's for the best) and then, come february,  my resolutions have faded and shame and regret take over.  oddly enough, the good list i greet you with in january always seems to become the judge of my life and i am weighed down by it and no longer able to fly free...

this year, if it's okay by you-- i'd like to do things a little differently.

i've decided to revise and revive the list.  i'm changing my focus this year.  i'm not inviting any negative voices in to preside over us.  while i am still making a list for us--instead of making the usual grand plans--i am aiming to live in your smallest moments and make room for my Father to join me.  my theme is: 

taste and see. 

(psalm 34:8)

Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see—
how good God is.
Blessed are you who run to him.

so this year i'm making a list of wonderful things to taste and see.  things i don't wanna miss.  i want to make sure i squeeze them all in somewhere between your january and december.  instead of the usual skinny and self disciplined resolutions i'd like to go with something that cheers on life and creates space for the Creator to do something wonderful. this time next year i want to look back on a year where i tasted and saw that He was good...and i didn't hesitate to run to Him.  so here's our list:

1. try new foods at every culinary intersection.  when given a choice...get adventurous.

2. buy some pretty local produce.  taste it.  see it.  find His goodness in it.

3. go to the beach more.  it's like thanksgiving for your eyes...and it's just 10 minutes away.  waste the gas and just go.

4. drink more tea.  drink it slowly.  drink it with friends.  drink it with the kiddos.  note the taste and color...

5. find your very favorite color in this whole entire world.  name it.  frame it.  collect things this color all year long.

6. eat more peanut butter...share any new peanutty recipes with family, friends and strangers.  see what happens.  

7. go one day without seeing (no contacts)

8. go one day without tasting (fast)

9. celebrate beauty unabashedly wherever you find it. don't let it go unnoticed.  in people.  in places.  inside, outside.  let this year be a beauty hunt.  collect it when you can, take a picture or put it in your pocket.  open your eyes and see it everywhere.

love,

love,

love,

lexi

{my musings...}

i live a quiet, slow life.  i pull over for sunsets and am infatuated by sea foam.  i make a living capturing beautiful moments.  i don't watch much tv and never turn on the news.  i don't own a gun and never will.  i believe whole heartedly in a big God that can run the world without me...and i do my best to live like it.  i like  to keep the focus on living in the moment as much as anyone can.

last friday, i heard of the connecticut tragedy through my sister.  i spent the next few hours glued to my computer searching for updates--watching closely as they interviewed shocked children and falsely reported bits of news and gossip intermittently.  i was fixated on this tragedy...trying to gather information in lieu of the control i craved.

when my kindergarten son jumped in my car after school later that day, i could barely look at him without losing it.  i was so lucky.  i was so very very lucky to have two wonderful, healthy children.  i was startled by the feelings of guilt that rumbled in my soul.  i felt guilty that my kids came home on friday and 20 other mom's sweet babies did not.

i wish i could say i loved my kids better these last two days but honestly, i grieved all weekend.  couldn't shake the dark cloud in my soul from all the heartbreak i saw on my computer screen. i couldn't stop thinking about the kids.  the moms.  the police.  the town.  the gunman.  his brother.  i guess i'm the sensitive type--that's why i don't watch the news in the first place.  this horrific story sucked me in and spit me out, and rendered me useless.  my imagination took over and ran so many scenarios in my head it made me tired.  i found myself scampering back and forth from trying to find answers to searching for someone to shake and blame.  the answers and the blaming made me feel, once again...as if i had some control over what happened...thousands of miles from me...in a school i'd never before heard of...to children and families i'd never met.  silly, yes...but all too human.

over the weekend i noticed some people only needed hours to mutate this tender situation into a political debate.  i was surprised to find that this was the time for the great gun debate and the lack of government help for the mentally handicapped.  the more i thought about them and their opinions, the more those people were just like me...trying to find someone to blame.  trying to find just the right angle to grasp some precious control in this chaotic world we live in.  less guns, more guns, better health care...i heard and saw it all.

i took it all in and was greatly saddened as a greater perspective pervaded my thinking. there really is no answer to this one.   but, oh how we want one!  we are all searching for it.  we want the police to come back with an investigation that uncovers all the tell tale signs of why this young boy made these choices.  we want that information to be able to stop any chance of a "next time".   but whatever the investigation turns up--there is not, and never will be, a clear person to blame here.  there is no reason for this.  there is no legislation that can help and no doors big and strong enough to protect our children.

i guess i think that this connecticut tragedy, like all the rest of them...is a human problem.  one that's been around forever.  only the near sighted can believe that this is a new problem.  the weapons we have make it look a little different but in Bible times as well as now...hurt people, hurt people.  always have and always will.  guns or not.  laws or not.  health care or not.  hurt people, hurt people and the only way out of this crazy cycle of hurt is...LOVE.  love is the only known antidote of hurt.  love heals.

i'm simple.  i'm idealistic.  i know i'm a little out there but ... i think LOVE is the only preventative to this human problem.  i wonder, who was in adam's life?  loving him?  befriending him?  as a child...as a teenager...through his parents divorce...at his dr's appointments?  who cared about him before this day?  who noticed him?  who called out his strengths and encouraged him???  

here's what i know...love changes things.  and if i want things to change, i think it's my calling to love my neighbors...my friends...my friends kids...MY KIDS...my kids friends...people i meet in the store or at a basketball game.  i think the very tiniest thing i can do in response to such a crisis is to love those around me.  not just the ones i want to.  not just the ones that smell good and make me laugh.  not just my own kids or family either.  no, it's not that simple.  i think it's my calling to love all those i come in contact with.  hurt will always happen.  there is no getting around that.  but if love heals hurt and i have some to give...why i am i not passing more of it out?

this world changing love i'm talking about, it must be bold.  this love can't take no for an answer.  this kind of love sails over uncomfortability.  love loves awkward.  love does it anyway.  this brand of love doesn't need guns to change things...it needs people...people willing to love.  love hard.  love with their whole lives.

we americans make love into something we keep very private.  we take care of our own and that is all.  we barely give our neighbor's christmas cookies, for heaven sake!  it's very american to like our space and our boundaries and our privacy.  people are weird-ed out by acts of love because we are independent and strong...and sadly, love has become a bit of a rarity.  we are all too busy arguing on facebook about whether or not teachers should have assault rifles to look around and practice loving the hurt people all around us.  our debates on fb and these very words on my blog...they don't require much...it's easier to argue over guns and healthcare then to simply, love each other.  

now, lets be honest, this kind of love takes work...sacrifice.  it may sound over simplified but love is hard.  it's selfless.  it's time consuming.  it's an interruption.   it requires slowing down and looking around.  it requires getting out of OUR comfort zone to help.  to hug.  to listen.  love can be expensive.  love can be tiring. but if love is the only thing that can promise healing in this broken world my children live in...then i will give my life to love.

roadtrip rant

i just got back from a long drive to see my baby sister.   if i had my choice of people to be related to, i'd pick my 4 siblings every time.  we have a fierce love and loyalty to each other.  it's so very hard living so far from them all...

so, normally my sister trips are under better circumstances--we laugh and cook and laugh and eat and laugh and talk...and laugh some more...and eat some more:) this time notsomuch.  my sis savannah just moved to virginia and had a weeklong stay in the icu.  her husband works out of town and stayed with her as long as he could...but practically, he had to get back to work after a week.  so, i had to go.  work, life, family, to do lists, money and everything else could wait.  my sister was alone and sick and just needed someone...whether SHE thought so or not.  so we packed some bags and booked a rental car (neither of our cars were up for a roadtrip) and went.

eric drove me and those children of mine to pick up the priceline-super-cheap rental car for our lil roadtrip...fully expecting a lil prius or corolla...instead, the kind mustached man at the counter gave me the keys to a brand new red mustang.  ARE U KIDDING ME?  this sister trip just got a lil extra wonderful!!!  i'm not a sports car kinda girl...but for a road trip?  up the coast?  with my kiddos?  in the summer?  you betcha.  the 3 of us just pretended we owned that fine pony for a few glorious days.  i tried my best not to think about how i was cheating on my maroon 2001 chevy malibu with no air conditioner or cd player waiting for me at home and just drove...

we went north.  past savannah georgia, past charleston sc, past myrtle beach and up to richmond va.

we sang some taylor swift and drew some silly pictures and stopped at red boxes for more movies all along the way.  my kids were perfect angels.  they are roadtrip warriors.  they know a good roadtrip requires little to no whining, lots of good music, snacks and entertaining yourself.  man, i love those two.

with rhett's curly head playing gi joes in the backseat and jae riding shotgun with sunglasses and a good book...there were no backseat squabbles.  they were both tickled that we were driving the "fast car" and were on their very best behavior.

that left me & music & the mustang & an open road.  i literally took one highway for all but 30 min of the drive--it was ideal.  the luxury of uninterrupted thinking time was like a spa for my soul.  there was nothing to do but drive and think.  there was no guilt.  there was nothing else i could be doing--should be doing.  no dishes or pictures or fun games or sunshine a-wasting...just me & driving.  i am so sidetracked on a daily basis.  i have a bit of a.d.h.d. that keeps me...in a constant state of crazy.  so when i can focus on just one thing...it's beautiful.  it was a wonderful blur.

with my gramma's weather navigation helping me all the way--we eventually made it to vannah.  we talked her ear off (rhett mostly), loved on her, fed her, babied her a little and saw some sights.  it was so very good to see her home and that she was on the mend from her awful week in the hospital.  i so would have regretted not going up to make sure that she was going to be okay...it was a good trip...but i couldn't help looking forward to that wonderful mustang drive home.

we got in the car and did much of the same thing on the way back...but instead of north we drove south.  i was a little sad driving away from my sister (always am) so we made up a car game called the happy list.  jae and i went through the whole alphebet thinking of something that starts with each letter that makes us totally blissfully happy.  she'd write hers and mine--hers and mine.  than when we were done and satisfied with our answers we asked rhett his unbiased opinion on which was better.  anne of green gables or airplanes.  bubble tea or baths.  the circus or citrus smells.  i won.  :)  it cheered me right up and on we drove.  i spent the whole drive up to virginia untangling my very crazy, knotted, un-looked after thoughts so the drive back i was able to come to some clear conclusions...and here they are.  i just have to share a bit of my crazy...

i've been living a very frustrating life as of late.  i've been expecting perfection from myself and those around me.  i have had the crazy notion that if i practice doing the things that don't come easy to me (organization, cleanliness, silence, self restraint, responsibility, punctuality, faithfulness, etc) that soon enough not only would i be creative and fun and flexible and thoughtful...i would be all those other wonderful things too.  well...i've spent the last year discovering that is NOT how life works.  but it's the doctrine under which i've been ordering my life.  what has happenned is i am expending so much energy trying to get better at the things i stink at that...i have no energy left to be what i am.  what He made me.  i am not saying He made me perfect and i just "need to be me".  i am not saying that there is not room for growth.  but the growth must happen in His time and under His masterful soul tending hand otherwise...well...i've found there is little light in the world.

all of my life people have pointed at me and said things like, "you are too ____."  fill in the blank with things like loud, opinionated, weird, random, late, irresponsible.  and i've felt those things like i feel everything...very intensely.  so in my new start in florida i've tried not to be those things...because alot of those things have gotten me in trouble.  with my fresh florida start i wanted to be the best version of myself ever...and yet...it's been so very confusing.  i've been so frustrated with trying to be someone else for all the noblest reasons.

somewhere between virginia and florida He uncovered the truth that He doesn't want me to change myself...HE wants to redeem who i am.  BIG thought (for me at least).  this thought brought relief to my heart and tears to my eyes.  He wants to take what i already am--my loud, opinionated day dreaming idealistic self and He wants to change none of that...He just wants to use it for His good instead of my own...AH HA!  so very simple (it always is).

i've been trying to inch grace out of my life.  i've been thinking that He wants me to be more like Him...He's probably ready to see me change and grow and i'm going too slow.  but in my rush...i ended up right back where i started....basking in His grace.  His grace + nothing.  and here i was trying so hard...

i got out of that mustang a different girl.  i feel like i've been trying to clean the mansion of my soul for the last year...a mansion that has some wonderful things to enjoy but i never let myself sit down.  there was always another dusty corner or dirty bathroom i had to tend to.  it was work work work.  my Father was shaking His head the whole time saying something like, "martha, martha" i'm sure.  but i was too busy to hear His voice.  i thought i knew what He wanted....obedience, self discipline, growth...but turns out all He wanted was me.  He didn't want an un-lexi version of lexi...He just wanted me as is....and He could handle the changing.  He wants the airheady, irresponsible, un-phone call returning me.

this is my road trip truth.  it feels like i just stepped out of the library and into the book.  everything looks wonderful again.  everything looks exciting and colorful.  and the knot of frustration that was stealing all my strength...yea, He untangled that.  i just had to drive 22 hours to create time to see what He wanted to show me.

i love roadtrips...and rants...and freedom.

{my sea change}

sea change

1. a striking change, as in appearance, often for the better.

2. any major transformation or alteration.

3. a transformation brought about by the sea.

this weekend stirred my soul.  i have lots of time to think lately...i'm doing little but sitting and editing all the wonderful photos i took on my latest trip to kansas city.  i'm listening to good music and spending lots of minutes talking to my Creator.  our talks go something like me begging for direction and Him being quiet.  (sigh)  rhett is getting big...my momma duties are slowly and steadily waning.  when he's in school...then what?  photography full time?  back to school full time?  these are my questions and all i've heard in return is 

{silence}.  

but sometime this weekend a sea change has occured.  a change in the deep waters of my soul and because of this i've decided to do a few things.  things new and scary to me.  a few bucket list items and few things that before this sea change i never dreamed i'd ever want to do...let alone actually invite into my life.  this sea change has brought about 3 specific things to the surface.

1. i'm learning to swim.

i'm athletic.  it's not like i'm gonna drown when i jump in the deep end but i've always been the girl that said, "nah, i just don't like to swim".  so i'd tan poolside.  it's so unlike me to sit on the side but in this case i would just take a dip when i got hot.  i went in the ocean til i felt a little creeped out and then i'd start swimming for shore.  my swim avoidance is deep seeded.  some scary abuse related things happened to me in swimming pools as a kid and i guess i've held onto that and made it part of who i am and...i'm done with that now.  i'm learning to swim.  front stroke, back stroke--all of it.  i still need to find a teacher...but figure He'll bring one along. my goal is ocean swimming without that scrambly feeling inside.  i'm oddly excited to jump in a pool and feel like "i got this".  who knows, maybe there is some surfing in my future;)

2.  starting tomorrow i'm getting up every morning at 6:30am to meet God and the ocean.

i am not a morning person.  until now i could think of nothing on God's green earth that could get me up at that evil hour.  until i met the ocean...and now it's only 10 minutes from my front door.  starting tomorrow i'm waking up before my family, donning my workout clothes, grabbing my Bible and maybe a journal and heading for the door.  i'm hoping to read and journal for the first bit and then go for a run/walk on the beach to begin each day.  it sounds glorious to me.  i'm so excited to start!  i want to invite beauty into my everyday life...aaaaand a little self disipline.  any one who knows me knows that this is no small undertaking...

3.  last but not least...i'm taking guitar lessons.  

this might seem silly to you.  but i want to invite new things into my life.  i want to be able to take music with me everywhere i go.  i want to be able to take a guitar along to the beach and worship my Creator one day.  an ipod or begging someone to come along to play music for me just won't cut it anymore.  i love music.  it comes pretty easy to me.  it's gonna happen.  music lessons aren't just for my kiddos.  (although i'm hoping to teach jae every day when i get home from my lessons.)  so i'm on the hunt for a cheap guitar...i think i have someone to teach me already...

in the scope of things...these 3 things are miniscule.  but they are big to me.  i don't wanna be scared.  i wanna invite beauty into my life. and i wanna do new things.  i still don't know what i'm going to do next year when rhett goes to school.  still asking Him daily but i'm taking a few steps away from me and towards Him and i'm excited to see what He will do...

this is my sea change.  

{mud caked moments}

since moving to florida i've seen a certain kinda freedom flourish in my husband.  i think it must be the combination of the salty air and the magic of moving.  there is something about moving far away from normal that gives a person the freedom to be different.  sometimes when you stay in one place for awhile you get used to everyone around you telling you who you are and as homey as home is, it can be a harsh environment for change.  it seems to me when everything is new it gives birth to even more newness--like a spring of the soul.  don't get me wrong...it's not all sunny.  there is lots of rain but it's a season of growth just the same.  it's a fresh start in your head and heart...if nothing else.

this move has been such an adventure for our family!  that spirit of adventure has taken hold of eric and i and we've made a habit of dropping everything and going to the beach and driving around looking for never-before-seen things.  it's like we have eyes for the everyday again and when everything is an adventure it turns thursday nights into muddy messes:)

today, thursday,  was jaeda's first day o summer and it was rainy...and has been all week.  ugh.  or as rhett would say, "that's boo." this afternoon, eric called me from work and said,

"hey, when i get home have the kiddos dressed in clothes they can get messy in...i've been staring out my window at this muddy field all day and i just kinda wanna go play in it.  if this rain keeps up we are going to find a muddy field to jump in!"

 i was super excited and a bit surprised...these wild ideas are usually mine!  i kinda love messes and was super excited for something fun to do on another boring rainy day, so as soon as eric got home from work we loaded our curious kids up and went on a search for a muddy field and pond size puddles.

:)  we haven't had this much fun together in a looooong time.  we parked at an empty park, turned the radio up and left the windows down and played in the warm summer rain.  we belly flopped and puddle stomped...we slid and skid and wrestled and rolled.  it. was. awesome.

at one point the girl turned to me giggling and said, "oh my gosh, you are a MESS!  you have mud all over your face...it kinda looks like poop!"

i laughed.

her comment was purely ridiculous...because that girl was covered in a lovely mixture of sand, dirt, grass and rainwater...

and then i heard that still small voice.  i knew it was that spirit voice that sneaks even into these silly seconds and (if you are listening) makes teachable moments out of mud caked memories.

somewhere inside i heard a whisper.  "and that is how insanely ridiculous it sounds to me when you look at another child of mine in judgement".

what? whoa.

i blinked and looked at my filthy daughter.  moments before she had literally been rolling in the mud...and then she got up and laughed at how dirty i was...

this is how the Father feels about my judgement of others.  this is how silly it sounds to Him when i, in my sin filthy state...have the audacity to turn to another dirty soul and say,

"oh, wow, now you're a mess!"

hmmmmmmm....

i went back to puddle jumping with the kiddos.  we splished and splashed until we'd all had enough.  we laid towels on the carseats, opened the windows and turned up the music and sang all the way home.  we all fought over the showers and made some dinner and as i tucked my clean kids in their beds on the first day of summer i was thankful.

thankful for summer rain, for an adventurous husband and for teachable mud caked moments with my Father.

snowstorms & symphonies

lately i've been thinking about how many things are going on at once...from the microscopic to the cosmic & you and me in between.  


think about it...


there are whole worlds we don't see underground, in space, down the street, in every house, underfoot, in the corner of my room, in my body, under the sea,  all of which exist in the same moment.  to a girl who struggles with multi tasking--my Father's ability to balance/plan/handle it all may be the most awe inspiring thing about Him!  the whole world, seen and unseen, is churning with LIFE and it is God, my Father, that is the stirrer of it all.  in psalms david calls Him:


...Earth Tamer, Ocean Pourer, Mountain Maker, Hill Dresser, Muzzler of sea storm and wave crash...
found in psalm 65:2-8 the message


i was texting my friend sara this morning...and she informed me that her early morning flight to cali was delayed by a snowstorm in denver.  


in that moment i could see it all so clearly--how frustrated i would be if that was me...how--if it were me--i would shrink the snowstorm to be an annoyance instead of a His wonderful, white, song. 


i have been to a few symphonies in my day (thanks mom).  at the time i was just a kid (with a touch of a.d.d.) and needless to say, i didn't really enjoy the experience.  looking back now--the one thing i always found fascinating was the conductor.  i could scarcely tear my eyes from him.  his whole body was passionately involved in song.  how did he know when each instrument was supposed to come in???  i was enchanted with how he controlled the explosion of sound--pushing and pulling the song louder and softer with his hands.  from drums to tubas, clarinets to flutes--all the instruments played their parts and waited on his hands to move...


for some reason, when i got sara's text about her flight being delayed, all i could see was my Father directing that snowstorm like a Divine Conductor--making the snow dance to his rhythm and cadence.  all i could see for a split second was how all of life is a symphony singing to His tune--how each note waits on His hands to move.  the snow, sara's life, mine, these brown boxes i've been packing...it was all very much like a scene from disney's fantasia...boxes, brooms, snowstorms & me and you--everything in this world moving to His music.


thinking about just how many worlds He is simultaneously conducting makes each snowstorm in my life look more like a symphony and less like an annoyance.  somehow He's got everything singing His praises.  

and it's up to us to join the chorus.

what a beautiful snapshot of Himself He gave me this morning.  call me crazy but i treasure these little pictures He paints in my head... 

BFF's & box-o-date-night

once you've been friends with someone for awhile--it's fun to talk first impressions.

at first, my best friend lyndsey thought i was an african american single mother (i do get pretty tan in the summer;).

her husband paul, dubbed my eric, 'sir frown alot' (his words--not mine) and was scared to approach him at church.

the moment i heard lyndsey's voice on my answering machine asking us to come to her "small group" i was convinced she was a crazy church lady...

fast forward 8 years...

together we've celebrated so many birthdays, christmases (even our "friend anniversaries") not to mention the birth of 3 of our kiddos. today the perry family is an extension of my own.  i've never met two more generous and open-hearted individuals.  if you don't know them--you should.  if you can't tell yet--i'm their biggest fan:)  we are sweatpants-wearing, late-night-taco-bell-running, chinese-food sharing, two-slices-of-pie-kinda-friends.  we've been each other's first call with good news...and midnight call when things were crazy.  for years we lived just 6 doors down...then we lived together, then just a 10 minute drive apart...and now we live 1200 miles away.  

i've found the very best things even distance can't touch.  i have a handful of friendships from my hometown that i know will always be the same...the perry's are one of them.  they are...well...i just think everyone should have friends like them.  friends to have fun with, to unwind with, to celebrate with, mourn with, fight with, make up with--friends to walk with. no comparisons or competitions (unless we are talking a foot race or a throwing competition--then IT'S ON!!)  but seriously, we've walked down some pretty treacherous stretches of road together.  there were times where it seemed too hard...and yet right there was where we found grace fit just perfectly.

as i journey through this life i'm discovering that i've been spoiled--friendships like this are rare.

more rare than i knew.

 i miss them (like crazy).  

we recieved a surprise package from the perry clan last week.  naturally we ripped it open right away!  inside we found  something so remarkable.

 it was an at home date night--all boxed up and ready to go!  paul and lynz know that eric and i haven't gotten much face time since moving away (turns out there is a severe shortage of babysitters when you don't know anyone).  so they put together a box o date night...complete with instructions for us and the kiddos.

 we even had homework to complete before our date :)

 the date box was jam packed with fun stuff for the kiddos to keep themselves busy.  boy did their eyes widen when they saw all the junk food momma linny had packed for them!!!

 jaeda had strict instructions to take care of rhett...to make their dinner and pop them popcorn...while they watched the brand NEW MOVIE the perry's had sent!  she loved the responsibility.  daddy paul and momma linny know her too well...

 meanwhile, eric and i were given an envelope with money for dinner and a few connecting questions to ask and answer under the florida stars...i think the list went something like:

• share something that you appreciate about your spouse
• share something new about yourself with your spouse
• share one of your hopes for the future
• share one thing that puzzles you about your spouse
• share a complaint with a request

after weeks and months of kiddos and kiddos and getting settled and kiddos and of eric having to do homework after the kiddos went to bed, it was so lovely to hear from his heart...

we reconnected over some yummy sushi...(although it's no moonlight)

and just like that--the perry's and their little brown box brought out the best in us.  we walked away from our little date night feeling so refreshed.  their thoughtful gift made us feel oh so loved--even from a thousand miles away!

after our date there was one more envelope for jaeda's eyes only...it was an envelope with money for the "sitter".  she was thrilled...to say the least!

gosh, it was such a fun night.  we've decided we're gonna send them a similar box soon...and start a new tradition with these friends of ours...
(love you perry's!!!)

if you don't have friends like these perry people--you should find you some.  inviting people into your life can be tough...but man, it sure does make the ride worthwhile...

take a chance--invest in friends.