(editing pictures of emily--this one was so beautiful i had to stop and take a picture while i was editing).
you asked if i would pray for you, as someone who had been brave and conquered her fears.
and i felt willing, but inadequete.
because you are so much braver than i have ever been or will ever be.
a few years ago for my birthday you gave me this magnet
and that is the courage that you have.
the daily kind.
the get up and do it again kind.
even if it is slow.
even if it is painful.
even when you don't want to.
you show up
and do it.
again and again.
that type of brave is hard for me. dailyness and diligence is hard for me.
i like the roars.
i'm writing a story now about a woman who roars.
but this morning i wonder if she could only roar because she got up each morning to show up and be brave in the small things.
you asked for prayers.
and that, my friend, is something i believe in.
my own lifeline.
my own prayers became less formal and constant as i walked through hard places.
they were never daily--they were hourly.
and i know that the prayers of my friends in my behalf mattered.
i will never forget when i learned a friend and her husband had been praying for us daily, on their knees, for years.
years.
i doubt there has been much time that our family's names have not been on the prayer roll at the temple for years.
once you wrote me a letter, that i saved in my fireproof safe along with our social security cards and immunization records. that is how much it meant to me. it came at just the right time for me.
and i want to say some of your beautiful words to you.
because you are extraordinary.
and enough.
and i am so blessed to know you. to have you as a friend. as an example. and to have my life shaped by you. it is strange to have bronwyn approaching 11 and realize that we were 12 when we became friends.
i only pray she can have a friend as incredible as you--who will introduce her to things as awesome as the blue sword.
because that right there is a life-changer.
"These things seem ordinary to you because you've lived with yourself for so long and they come naturally. But they aren't ordinary they are extraordinary. I know you don't see yourself this way but you need to try because this is the truth.
I keep thinking about the line in The Secret Life of Bees when August tells Lily: 'You are enough.' You are more than enough. I love you so much."
i love you so much.
and i'm praying for you.
brook