Friendship Pt 8 Priceless: People Who Lift and Support You

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We’re short and sweet today, because it too darn hot to think.  So we aren’t going to tax our brains too much.  Brevity can sometimes be as lovely as a cooling breeze, can’t it?

A fun thing happened yesterday that lifted me up. It was purely “accidental;” I could never have planned it.  Those occurrences are so fun to share, aren’t they?  So here’s what happened:

For a while I’ve had this kaftan-style dress, mid length, tie dyed, but I haven’t worn it much.  It’s not only high quality super-soft cotton, it’s also light-weight and cool – perfect for the 105 degree weather we’re having here.

A well-respected Japanese designer of eco-clothing designed it, fabricating it in a cottage industry he’s established in rural Thailand.  A friend who knew the designer gave it to me as a birthday gift.  I liked it, but…

The problem was the color. While the tie-dyed part was a nice blue, the extensive background color was a neither-here-nor-there blah beige of the sort that looks dirty and washes you out, making you look (and feel!) tired.  So I wore it rarely, only in a heatstroke emergency.

For quite a while I’d planned to dye it and had gone so far as getting the dye and fixative.  That was three years ago, haha! But it’s so hot this summer that I finally determined to break my winning procrastination streak and get that item in rotation in my summer wardrobe.

Of course it turned out to be a simple process, easy to do and not time-consuming at all, certainly nothing that needed years of putting off.  I used a pretty blue dye of a paler shade than the tie-dyed parts.  The color worked beautifully and absolutely transformed that blah ole beige – I’m so pleased with the result.  

One funny thing though, the dye faintly bled through my (apparently) too thin rubber gloves giving me lightly blue-hued forearms and very pale blue fingernails.  I have a friend who has dreams about coming from a liquid blue planet where the alien beings have a bluish cast to their skin… so I feel somewhat kin to her, if only temporarily.

Now comes the serendipitous part. The process requires a good number of minutes of both stirring and rinsing.  As the material was slowly swished about, I noticed what appeared to be an inseam label I hadn’t seen before.  I made a mental note to trim it off after it was dry.

So, not that many hours later I was searching out the label for snipping, scissors in hand and keen to try on my “new” dyed and dried garment.  I often remove labels, they can be itchy, wouldn’t you agree?

I located it in a side seam and discovered it wasn’t the expected label. When I read it I had a childlike rush of happiness, feeling like a kid who found spare change under the sofa cushion or a piece of gum still in it’s wrapper.  It was a message, little treat, an unexpected treasure.  Here’s what it said (in blue of course)

Surround yourself with people that will lift you higher.

I have a fortune cookie dress! And my fortune is wise and fun and practical at the same time.  I love it.  Donning the dress in that moment – message in place -I not only felt pretty in blue but surrounded by the support of those who lift me up.

“What a nice message for the friendship series,” I thought.  Being lifted up. What a great image too – being carried on friend’s shoulders in victory perhaps, or swooped up and twirled around in a big warm bear hug.

Seems to me the majority of our friends should be people who do, in fact, support and lift us up.  If not – if some of us have too many takers and not enough “lifters” – let’s change that over the coming months.  Let’s strengthen our personal network so we feel lifted up by it.  We need each other more than ever now… I can really feel the importance of that, can’t you?

Lastly, I know I often say some version of this, but it’s very true: I feel supported by you who read me, some taking the time to comment occasionally.  And even when you’re not doing either, I still feel your kind thoughts.  And I am lifted up.
Thank you for being here,
Love, Mayet