Embracing Differences

Today’s mail held a piece of “Happy Mail.”  Some of you who have known me a long time know that Happy Mail is huge.  I love to get it and more importantly, I love to send it.  With today’s technology though, Happy Mail tends to come a bit infrequently. 

You can imagine my delight to open up the mail box and see a bright pink card staring back at me.  WHOO-HOO!!!  Doing my Happy Mail dance in the cul-de-sac and not caring who sees me (after all, hopefully we’ll be moving soon).  

I dance my way into the house with my pink card of anticipation.  I don’t look yet to see who it’s from – I like the element of surprise.  I sit down at my kitchen table and proceed to weed through the not-so-happy mail first.  A couple advertisements, junk mail, and an invitation to a Forever Families Adoption event at COSI later this summer.

The moment is here – the rest of the mail has been sorted and now I can concentrate fully on my little pink envelope.  I look at the return address and it’s from a very dear friend of mine.  She normally doesn’t send me any mail, so this was even more intriguing. 

I carefully open up the envelope and there is Sarah Palin staring back at me behind a Presidential podium.  The front of the card read: Sarah Palin could be our next President of the United States.  Then you open it up and the inside said: Guess there are scarier things than raising kids.  Happy Mother’s Day. 

I cracked up!!  Even if my friend hadn’t put her return address on the envelope, I would have known it was from her from the moment I saw the photo on the card.   

See, my husband calls me the Ultra Conservative.  I tend to see issues in black or white – I think when you stare too long at the gray you start to compromise your beliefs.  I vote Republican.  I am anti-union.  I am just, well, Conservative.

My friend, on the other hand, is a (GASP) Liberal.  She voted for Obama.  She is pro-union.  Politically she tends to veer off into way left field, while I run straight to the right. 

But I love her and she loves me.  I give her a hard time (lovingly and jokingly) about voting for Obama and she gives me a hard time right back for my voting stance.  I call her my LibNut.  She calls me Crazy.  🙂   

While it may seem like we have huge differences, and some may wonder how we even became friends, when it comes to the important things – we see eye to eye.  She loves Jesus.  She adores her family.  She tries hard to the best mother she can be to her children.  She prays for her husband daily.  She cares for her friends.  We are each others sounding board when it comes to mothering and marital advice. 

I look back and remember when I first saw her – I must admit my impression of her was kind of how I would imagine a Conservative might see a Liberal.  I thought she was too outspoken, and yes, even a little bit scary.  But the walls came tumbling down and I had the privilege of seeing to her heart.  Talking with her about her fears.  Hearing her voice the same concerns I have. 

Differences?  Yes, there are some – but the similarities are so much more important.  I thank God for bringing this woman into my life.  I am blessed to call her Friend.  (even if she is a LibNut)