Sweet Treats

My sister's daughter, Jessica, and I at Lake Superior.

Last night, my sister, Sue, and her bubbly daughter, Jessica, came over to babysit so Ken and I could go out for an anniversary date.  While I was tidying up for her arrival and thinking about the food they might munch on, I thought about some of my younger days of babysitting.  In particular, I thought of babysitting for Curt and Debbie.

I loved babysitting for C& D.  One of the main reasons I enjoyed sitting for them was because of the great goodies they always had on hand in their cupboards.  C & D had an amazing supply of treats; all sorts of Little Debbie delights, chips, pop, cookies, candy, and so on.  "Help yourself to anything you want," was often a parting comment.  I always felt like I hit the jackpot because, for the most part, we had little of that kind of food at my house.

Looking back, I am a little embarrassed at how often I took advantage of "helping myself" to the delicious decadence of the empty calorie heaven.  Back then, I'm sure I did not even consider that C & D might come home and laugh at how this sweet, thin, teenager must have turned into a ravenous junk food scavenger once the garage door went down.  Yet for me, there was something really fun and special about that occasional stock up on sweets.  Something comforting, oddly enough.  Definitely, it was something I looked forward to and got excited about.  And, it seemed to hold me over for a while, in terms of needing a sweet treat.

Last night, I thought of how my poor sister and niece would not nearly have as many fun treats to choose from as I did at C & D's.  But then another thought occurred to me...strange how my brain makes these connections.  There have been a few friends...or more specifically, moments with friends....that have felt like those goody raids to me, only with much greater significance.  There have been those moments with a friend when I feel like I needed to take in as much as I could, during the short time that I had, in order to make the effect last.  Or, when I have met someone who seems to have such an amazing depth, wisdom, and spirit to them that I hate to have to leave this new found "friend".  I've especially felt that way when I've met others who have a unique passion and fire in their bellies - for God, for the lost, for orphans, for the hungry, for the world.  Sometimes, it is a moment when the depth of conversation or time together is so rich that it courses through my veins, able to sustain me for a time.  It is so much more than the day to day touch and go relationships that we have with so many throughout the day.

I hope everyone has had the chance to have these kinds of moments with a friend or a loved one.  They may be few and far between, but like the goodies at C&D's, they can stay in your mind for a long time, cropping up in your memories when you least expect it.  They can "refresh" you when your day to day interactions may not be quite as sweet.  They can hold you over for a time and give you encouragement for days to come.  They are the moments that take a relationship just a little bit deeper.  You can't really force them, they just seem to be. But, when they happen, they are surely sweet!