3yoBFFs

I’m not sure if there could possibly be anything more delightful then having a two-year-old BFF.  Except maybe when that BFF turns into your three-year-old BFF.  And I am blessed with having two! 

Tonight I got home from work and was halfway through making dinner (I say “making” in a very loose sense—I made bullion and dumped rice and corn in it) when a friend calls to invite me to hang out. 

“Um, tonight?”

“Yeah, it’s Wednesday.  My husband is working late.”

“Uh, ok,” I say, my brain switching gears.  “I just finished making dinner.  I guess it can be tomorrow’s lunch.”  It takes me a bit to move from about-to-eat mode into not-about-to-eat mode.

“I’ve got some acorn squash soup we can have.”

About-to-eat mode back on!  “Ok, see you soon.” 

I arrive at my friend’s house and am inside the door taking off my shoes when my three-year-old BFF (3yoBFF hence forth) turns the corner and notices me.  She stops, then points excitedly, jumps up and down, and says, “LOOT Mama!  Loot!  It’s Sawah!  Sawah’s here!!”  She runs over and gives me a great big bear hug.  And I nearly explode from the cuteness. 

What’s awesome about my 3yoBFF’s greeting is her uninhibited enthusiasm.  She is excited to see me and lets everyone know.  In fact, she thinks that everyone should be as excited as she is to see me.  Because I am Sawah and I am awesome!  At least in my 3yoBFF’s eyes.  Which isn’t really the “least”, but very important indeed. 

What is also amazing—and slightly frightening—is that I have done nothing to be this awesome.  One day I was just a person hanging out with her parents, the next I was Sawah the Awesome!  (For a little while there I was inexplicably Wheedjah the Awesome.  I had visions of my 3yoBFF coming back home on break from college and hanging out with Wheedjah, I thought the nick name was so great.  But she had other ideas, and went back to calling me some version of Sarah three months later.) 

And to take a cheesy post to a whole new level of cheesy—tonight was probably one of the best pictures of grace I’ve ever seen.  Want to know what unmerited favor is?  It’s my 3yoBFF’s excitement and joy at my presence.  I did nothing and could do nothing to earn that.  She just bestows it upon me.  And in the process fills my heart to near bursting.  If I can drop propriety and dignity I can almost imagine Jesus saying with as much excitement, “LOOK Abba!  Look!  It’s Sarah!  Sarah’s here!!”

For this Lenten season I am giving up perfectionism and posting a blog each day, Monday through Friday, from Ash Wednesday on February 13th, through Easter, on March 31st.  For more information, read “What Are You Giving Up?”  Jesus died for me and loves me, and this is an exercise in remembering that.  Thanks for joining me!