Golden Bones

Just back from a quick weekend to San Diego (Yes, Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore, we're actually HOME!) and all the wonderful warm tinglings from being with the best friends and family a girl could have. But among all the highlights packed in to a very sweet 36 hours was a REVELATION:

As we were driving back to LaCosta from Mattie's(granddaughter)basketball game Saturday morning we pulled off the freeway on the Encinitas exit to get gas. We had lived there when we moved to California for five years before we moved on up the coast, and my daughter, Willow, was flooded with a memory. "How old was I when you had the surprise birthday party for me when we lived here; the one where I made a face and ran back out the door?" Recalling that singular moment of grace, I told her I figured 9 or 10. "Oh," she smiled, "I remember it was at that time when I became convinced I had golden bones." This was news to me. "Golden bones?" I prodded. "Yeah," she said,"I knew everyone else had regular, run of the mill bleached white bones, but I was convinced Heavenly Father loved me more, and I had golden bones." (The girl has never lacked for self esteem.) How nice for you, I thought, maybe that helped you get through some rough times.  No image of her ever seeming arrogant or anything less than compassionate and helpful came to mind, so no apparent downside.  Maybe having golden bones actually helps you connect to and live that that ultimate law, the Golden Rule. The idea of my sweet little girl with her golden bones made me grin. Ear to ear.

Shortly afterward, we were in Vista for lunch with my friend Kathy, so I shared the fun insight with her. We laughed about it, and then Willow brought us up to speed.  That was then, this is now. "Actually," she said, "I've been upgraded. Sheer platinum bones, that would be me!"

And so it is. Love you, baby girl!

And how I loved this sharing this Thelma & Louise (whoever they are) trip with you, Willow---thanks for letting me ride shotgun (WOW, is that ever full circle).

Doesn't it make you wonder though, if just maybe we all were born with golden bones, even priceless jewels deep within, if we just get lucky enough to grasp that true reality?  At some point hopefully it dawns that the golden bones club is not exclusive, that we are all born with the magical DNA, that divine birthright.   And maybe that's exactly what we're here for---to help each other discover just how truly precious each and every one of us is.