New Link...

I've become someone who doesn't take kindly to new people walking into my life. The quote from Meredith on Grey's Anatomy about us choosing the people we want to be close to applies to me a lot. When it comes to friends, I'm extremely loyal and even a little protective and territorial. These aren't always good and noble virtues. It especially creates issues with trying to be part of a church where there is a yearly revolving door.

There's an art to walking through the doors and pulling up a chair in someone's life. You can't be too timid, less others think you are a piece of work and would require too much effort. Yet you also can't be too bold, barging in and immediately rearranging the furniture to suit your fancy. When this happens I think "who the hell do you think you are," and find ways to ignore you.

In film, television, literature, and in real life, a graceful entrance is as beautiful as a graceful exit. It's also as elusive. Not many people can pull it off.

Hannah can.

In the year after Kyle died, many of us closed ranks and found little ways to comfort each other. We needed someone to hold and to allow us to cry a lot and to read our emotional blogs and to help us remember our collective past. But as the year went on, we also needed a fresh breath of air. To ward off paralyzing depression we needed new things and people to remind us that there is a world outside of our tragic one and that the sun is always coming.

Enter the Howards, a family who has also had their share of pain after the loss of their husband and father a few years ago. Somewhere in the midst of our difficult year, Robyn, Shane, and Hannah walked in.

Hannah is a 12 year old genius and lover of life. She's young but has an old soul and can make you feel valued and glad you woke up on a Sunday you otherwise would have advised yourself to stay in bed. Today Potter told her he'd already sold his house on his slow exit out of Waco, and Hannah just walked away. It was cute and adorable, but has anyone in the history of the world yet found a more genius way to tell someone you don't want them to leave?

Anyway, the reason I'm writing this is because a.) It's true and b.)Hannah is a great writer and has had a blog for some time and I've felt guilty for not putting the link to it. But I have and it's on the left. You can also check it out HERE.

Here's hoping everyone has a Hannah to gracefully walk through the doors of your lives.