News Flash: (Some) Relationships are Complicated.

I spent last week at the beach with family and i cannot even begin to tell you how good it was to get some sun, time with my niece and nephew, and afternoon naps.  Though i did enjoy time away from work and a break from Greenville,  time with dad usually sends me onto an emotional rollercoaster, and this beach trip was no different.  I held my feelings inside until i finally hit the road and was headed back home.  It's not that i'm incapable of moving on from 20 year old hurts. Nope.  It's that the damage has been done and i am incapable of pretending to have a close relationship with someone i'm not actually close to.  I think that's reasonable.  I saw my dad lovingly interact with my niece and nephew and wondered: Dad, were you ever like that with me? Perhaps he was. I just have no memory of it.  So, my trip to the beach was strangely both relaxing and a bit stressful--internally.

Then this weekend i got to see my friend, Lee,  from Furman.  What a fabulous treat to spend some time with her.   We walked down memory lane and had some fun with the photo booth at a wedding.  She was one of my closest friends in Greenville post-graduation.  We hadn't seen each other in a few years, but she is one of those friends who you can pick right back up where you left off.  So thankful. 

I guess i just started thinking about relationships over the weekend.  Some are easy and come very naturally.  Some have rifts for probably a million reasons.  Carrie Bradshaw probably said it best (yes, i am really about to quote a Sex and the City character): 

“Later that day I got to thinking about relationships. There are those that open you up to something new and exotic, those that are old and familiar, those that bring up lots of questions, those that bring you somewhere unexpected, those that bring you far from where you started, and those that bring you back. But the most exciting, challenging and significant relationship is the one you have with yourself. And if you can find someone to love the you you love, well that’s fabulous.”

Life is complicated.  So are people.  But God isn't.  He uses all of it for our own good--to shape us into the people He would have us become.  Relationships are complicated. But alot of times, they are worth it.