Hands open, palms up friendship

I’m not 100% sure what was going on in this picture. Maybe Taci can enlighten us, but I can sure tell you what I see.

I see the posture of the beautiful gift of friendship.

When you sit, eyeball to eyeball with a friend you trust, you are giving and receiving a treasured gift. It’s the gift of your time, your attention, and your heart. You open up your hands and offer whatever is really there. It’s goes way beyond the social media updates and filtered pics. Whether through heartbreak or laughter, you share small pieces of your real story.

And then you wait.

Hands still open, to receive their gift. No matter what comes next, you share the moment, holding safe space. No judgement, no fixing, just sitting there together, each holding your gifts.

The gift of true connection is so simple, so basic, and yet the most opulent facet of the human experience.

It’s where we find our greatest joy. But our time is stretched so thin that even when we do get time with our closest friends, it’s usually rushed. It’s often with kids, husbands or at a loud restaurant. So we have to work a little harder at making sure it happens. We have to be more intentional about creating space to open our hearts, and our hands.

Someone has to go first.

Someone has to decide to make it happen. Someone has to send the invite, risk feeling exposed, start the conversation. Someone has to open their hands first.

Will it be you?

You’ll never know just how much your gift is needed, until you open your hands.

You’ll never know how much you need that gift until ,you open your hands.

Go first. Open your hands today.

to more love,

Crystal

P.S. Planning this next GNO with Melissa Blair has been such an enormous gift to me personally. Every. single. time. we talk, whether it’s a crazy voice text or a middle of the night email, she has her hands open, palms up. She’s ready to give and ready to receive. She is such a good friend to me, and to all women. She’s a connector. She oozes empathy. She breathes life with her words. Her calming, peaceful and hysterical nature contrasted with my frantic, chaotic mind has been such a gift. I don’t even realize my pace, my flow until I hear her calming voice saying something like, “I know it seems scary, but girl, this is easy. We’ve got this.”