Has it been a year already?

(Tiny, Adrian and Alaina Valdez w/ Julie)

We were new to California. My new friend Jenn invited us to the Berryessa Art and Wine Festival.
She said that her family goes to the festival every year and then continues with a barbeque at her mother-in-law’s house. We accepted.

One of the biggest lessons we have learned this year is that you never know what will happen when you try something new. Not that going to a festival and a barbeque is a new experience, but accepting an invitation from someone you don’t know that well, agreeing to spend the afternoon not only with them but with their children and family – that could go either way. Will you be sitting politely at the table, making ‘tea talk’, scanning you brain to think of things you might have in common, commenting how lovely and well-behaved the children are, wondering when the time will come where you have stayed long enough to be polite and can then excuse yourself, claiming that you have a big day ahead tomorrow, there is more unpacking to do?

The day didn’t go like that. In fact, quite the opposite. I tend to judge how good of a time I have by whether or not I remember the conversations that take place. The sign of a fun evening is that I leave thinking “That was great!” but can’t recall a specific conversation that I had. I think it’s a sign that I wasn’t searching too hard for things to say - that whatever I said and did came naturally.

And that is how it's been since then. The Valdez family has opened their home and their family to us. They have woven us into their lives like we've know them forever. There is a comfort and a familiarity to our friendship that is rare.

Yesterday, at our 'friendship anniversary', we all laughed and said 'who knew?'. Nobody. That's the point. You never know what the day will bring.