lunch time offering

I could be taking a walk outdoors to stretch my legs and get a change of scene, but instead, I'm posting my 2nd blog in less than 1 hours' time. Amazing (is this addictive?). I'm thinking this is like your own personal therapy group. You post your thoughts, hopes, fears, worries and get support, kudos, affirmation and "you go girls" back in return.

So, now that I've discovered the secret pleasures of blogging, I'm anxious to get my friends and family all over to participate. I can hardly wait to start inviting them to my blog. A big Thank you goes out to Terra, who's singularly responsible for helping me make the leap into the virtual unknown... and a shout out to Leigh, who assures me that a simple blog is just fine.

This weekend, my good friend Noor will be returning to Malaysia - into the welcoming arms of her family. I spent most of last Saturday just hanging out at her place, while she packed up boxes from her life in the States to be shipped back to her family home in Malaysia. We spent most of our time doing what we always have, talking about our lives, our friends, our loved ones - doing our very best to keep off the topic that would put us both in tears, and the impending move out of the US for Noor and her son. I will miss the trips to Lee Lee's Asian Market for fresh herbs and spices for cooking - our chats over meals at some of our favorite Indian, Thai and Pakistani restaurants in the Valley. But, most of all, I will just miss her. I hope that, before long, we will be sitting together as we've done so many times in the past few years, and laughing about life.

To mark the occasion, I created a memory book for Noor. I included a lot of quotes about friendship and one about the bends in the road that change the direction we thought we were heading in. I have heard variations of this quote before, but wasn't aware the quote is attributed to Helen Keller: "When the door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us."

Having survived 2 layoffs and a few major life changing events in the past ten years, I can truly say that the twists and turns in my own life's journey have been learning and growing experiences. Life, as they say, is a journey. The comfort of true friends you meet along the way can certainly makes the trip worthwhile. Selamat jalan - Safe journey, Noor.