Please Squeeze my Hand

It's been awhile since I've been excited about friendships. That sentence doesn't read as serious as it felt to type, but it's huge.
My love in life is friendship. So much so that I seriously considered moving from beautiful Fort Lauderdale to soggy, freezing Des Moines. Crazy! But I love Jeremy.
I love friendships that walk hand in hand long enough to allow the other to squeeze as hard as necessary for love to prevail. True friendship is vulnerable enough to invite the intimacy we all long for.
I've had some amazing friends. Thank you Lord! Many of them are scattered across America. Living in South Florida in a globally minded world has molested my love of friendship. Rootless life has crushed me monthly. Lying in the absence of so many oaks offers no horizon. But God is good, and God is faithful, and the sun rises once again.
I remember thinking in middle school that I wouldn't end up having so few friends as my father. Before Hurricane Andrew he had more friends than I could keep up with. Six months later they we're scattered along the east coast of Florida. My parents did what was best for us kids. My dad's closest friend, on the map, was a half an hour away. They get together annually.
I realize that life is fluid, and that the flow often takes us where we hadn't anticipated, but we are stronger than the stream by design. I wrote this simple song back in January of 06 called Let's Go Pick a City. You can archive it on this blog if you'd like. The only comment I got was an advert for penny stocks, but I liked it.
I constantly struggle with balancing insatiable longings for perfection and reality. Therefore I'm often frustrated and disappointed. But Teresa is helping me through this, her friendship is the most valuable aspect of our marriage for me.
I want to live well. I want to live with purpose. I want to affect positive transformation. I want to live in the same neighborhood as the people I love and share life. And I want hope to be more contagious than depression, reality, or hate. Please squeeze my hand!