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Every Little Thing by April Jeppson

Talking with my friend Tini this morning, and I’m mentally teleported back 25 years. She was my friend’s foreign exchange student in high school and quickly became my best friend. During our junior year, we were inseparable. I have only experienced this level of friendship a few times in my life.

You can tell them everything. In fact, you want to tell them everything. The good and the bad. Like the embarrassingly bad stuff. The stuff that you can’t tell anyone, but you know that you can tell them. No judgments, just listening and if needed, solutions. The kind of friend that will help you bury the body, no questions asked.

She’s taking an extended holiday with her family next year for six months. Her husband had a health scare a while ago and it showed them how fleeting life can be. My American brain could not comprehend how a job could go six months without an employee. I kept joking about people texting her or the need to check her email, but she was confident that it would be an actual break from work.

I’ll have to wait until retirement to take a break that long, but I can definitely be more purposeful with smaller getaways. I often struggle with properly planning out my weekends, but I’m talking about actual vacations. Who are the friends I really want to visit? Where are the places I’ve always wanted to go? I feel the need to make a list.

Talking with her reminded me of all sorts of things that I haven’t thought about in forever. As a cheerleader, you have to learn chants and cheers that are often silly but catchy. Explaining them to someone who is still learning the nuances of a language, would often have us in tears from laughter. Actually there were a lot of things that we laughed about. That’s possibly one of my biggest memories of our time together — all the fun we had.

She told me this morning that one of things she learned from me was that if you think positively, then anything is possible. It made me think about what I learned from her and the answer came easily. She taught me the importance of working hard but knowing when to loosen up and not take life so seriously. Perhaps that’s why I remember our moments of laughter so vividly, she truly showed me how to lighten up.

I’m still learning how to loosen the reins and let go. I’m pretty sure it’s not my American job that is keeping me from taking a six-month vacation, but my mind that physically can’t release for that long. Our conversation this morning is a good reminder of not only our friendship, but of things I still need to work on. I want to be able to relax and have fun more often. I want to plan a trip and visit my friends and see new places.

As a positive thinker, I know that wanting to do something is the first step in getting there. So as I put this good mojo out into the universe, I know that it will come back to me tenfold. I hope that all of us can relax and enjoy this wonderful life a little more this week. Go for walks, watch the leaves fall, put on your favorite sweater and laugh until you cry with a good friend.

Albert Lean April Jeppson is a wife, mom, coach and encourager of dreams. Her column appears every Saturday.