Ever since I was little I've loved Anne of Green Gables. I love the books and I adored the movies. Honestly, if you had to pick one character to most represent me it would be Anne Shirley (with an 'e'). I've always identified with her funny ways and passionate feeling (especially her love of places with lots of scope for the imagination). Well, this last weekend I reconnected with this love and re-watched the movies. I had to squeeze it in between work shifts and late at night when I should have been sleeping, but I assure you it was well worth it. And it once again reminded me of the beautiful concept of Kindred Spirits. I, like Anne, used to think that Kindred Spirits were rare. But I have since learned otherwise. How wonderful to be able to say with Anne that, "Kindred Spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world." And now as I turn my life over to the consistent ebb and flow of change I find it my only comfort to know that "true friends are always together in Spirit."
This last Sunday my Kindred Spirit, Sarah Anne Dodds, came home from BYU-Idaho. It was a lovely time to spend the day attending farewells, making cookies, and sitting together in church. We giggled and reminisced and felt no other joy than to be together. Today we went to the temple just like we used to every Wednesday morning before school. We sat by the fountain and talked about the future, having already covered the bliss of the past. And true to tradition we returned to my house to make and delicious breakfast. But finding perfect contentment in reliving tradition and treasuring the past all the while barely containing our excitement for the future is not why Sarah is my Kindred Spirit. Sarah is not my Kindred Spirit because we find perpetual bliss in each other's successes and joys nor because we understand each other on a level untouched by others. It is not because of the unconditional love, acceptance, and need that seemed innately present in the other nor is she my Kindred Spirit because our experiences, beliefs, and very beings are so uncannily similar. It is not because she knew me better than anyone, nor is it that no sacrifice would be too great if it was needed of the other. I am certain, without a shadow of a doubt, that I could not be happy if Sarah were not apart of my life and that perhaps our children may play together while we take walks. She will be at my wedding and I hers, perhaps we will travel, and someday we'll once again reminisce, but this time on a front porch swing with the aroma of chocolate chip cookies wafting through the parlor, our grand-children playing in the yard. But not even this is why Sarah is my Kindred Spirit.
Sarah is my Kindred Spirit simply because she always has been. I may not remember what happened before this life had begun it's course but I do know one thing . . . when I first met Sarah I wasn't meeting her for the first time. We simply picked up where we left off. What a glorious feeling to realize that though time may always move forward it never has to mean the end. One may simply pick up where they left off. The strands of a memory or the sensations of a past are enough to give meaning and hope that a brighter future may be sparked and ignited into a beautiful present.
Sarah is my Kindred Spirit and I daresay she always has been and always will be and I love her for it.
So it seems to me (at least from my experience with Sarah) that Kindred Spirits are not made but rather discovered. If we keep our eyes and hearts open I'm sure we will find them, perhaps even in ourselves. For with a Kindred Spirit distance can not part nor hardship waver. A Kindred Spirit does not falter with change or grow weary with years. They do not simply exist in books or in the forever young characters of Anne Shirley and Diana Barry. They are all around us and it's time to start discovering . . . discovering Kindred Spirits.
-Natalie Cherie
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