Coffee With Gina

A beautiful friend is a gift.  I am blessed to have met some beautiful, amazing mamas, and women, along life’s path.  My lovely friend Gina and I go back to a time when our boys were preschoolers.  We met at an ECFE class, and had an instant connection right away.  We were both like-minded mamas with two little boys.  We both were, and still are, keepers of hearth and home, and keepers of the flame. We tend the fire of a pioneering/homesteading spirit. The support that we found in our friendship was and is, a beautiful blessing.  Gina is the kind of friend that makes you a better person just by sharing life over coffee. Aaaaaahhhh….SMILE.  You know the kind of person I mean, she is the friend who lifts you up when you didn’t know you needed to be uplifted.  You come away from the time spent together feeling more energized, alive, and creative. Just a better mama. Just a better person.

I still have the recipe that Gina wrote out on the back of a ECFE paper for her amazing butter toffee that she shared just before Christmas with our class.  On the bottom of the recipe was a little note, and her phone # as we had not met outside of class at that point.

(Will post recipe closer to Christmas as it has now become a family tradition!)  Yes, I am a sentimental sap…I love hand written recipes, even when they are on scratch paper!!!  There’s just so much love there, in the handwriting, and in the sharing of nourishment.  Here is a pic of it.

Gina and I began meeting for coffee,  play dates for the mamas, and for the boys :)….but here we are, nearly twelve years later,  still trying to sneak in some coffee here and there.  Our oldest boys are now driving, and I have added two more to the pack; life has continued moving us along. The greatest gift of our friendship has been the evolution.  Our connection has grown, bent, and changed with the fluctuations of each families life path, and encompassed each of us in many forms of blessing. We still sneak in sips of coffee between busy moments. Whether in each other’s actual presence or not, we are present in each others lives and hearts. The dearest of friends are those who help us to kindle the flame of who we are. They love, support, and encourage at a soul level. A simple smile, and a warm cup of coffee are all it takes to affirm, not only that we are enough, but that we are. Living, breathing spiritual beings put here on this earth for a unique purpose. Wholly unique to our own personal truths. Good friends help us to untangle ourselves revealing our truths in a way that is sometimes hard to do on our own. They give us clarity on what was whispering to our hearts.  They allow us, and encourage us, they walk with us along our paths, they nurture us to grow into our full potential, in the way that God intended.
We are both moving rapidly in many directions these days, and it is still a blessing to take time to have coffee with Gina.  I think of her often with love and coffee cup in hand, whether she is present or not, and say a blessing and prayer of gratitude over our friendship.  So, if you have a Gina in your life, grab your coffee cup, the telephone, or just send out some love; if she is that kind of friend, you know she will receive it.  Beautiful friends are a delicious gift, and Yummy, like Gina’s toffee!!!!