I can remember the night like it was yesterday. The air was
warm and yet slightly crisp for a fall night. The lights glistened and the
noise of traffic and people filled the city space. I was downtown Toronto with
two of my most favourite people in the whole world, my parents.
I realize it’s not everyday that you hear someone talk this
way about their parents, but then again, you probably don’t know my parents. I
will admit it a thousand times, I’m a very lucky girl. Living independently
over the past two years has only served as a big reminder of that. I love my parents
but not just because they me life and raised me but because they’re just two of
the best people I know. They love to have experiences, they love conversation,
they like to travel and they’re bent on not getting set in their ways. They
like to think about things, especially their faith. They love to meet
interesting people. When we’re together we laugh and we tell stories and we
remember why life is such a gift. They are the people who I desperately seek
advice from on almost everything, because what they think matters to me, and
because too often than not, the words they give me change my perspective on
life.
So this past September, on the weekend of my 25th
birthday, my parents drove to Toronto for the evening to take me out for a
special birthday dinner at Marche. If you’ve never been to this restaurant you
really need to go, it’s one of those places you have to experience at least
once. So we went and we sat at a cute little table under a large skylight,
surrounded by white lights in green trees. And for the next few hours we ate
food that made our taste buds spring to life, and by candlelight and white
lights we talked and laughed and shared stories. And a while after the first
round of dessert coffee, they decided it was time for the second round of
coffees. I love having coffee with people; it’s actually one of my favourite
things to do. I’ve been on enough coffee dates to know that there are only
certain people and certain circumstances that make you entertain the
possibility of a round 2 of coffees. And so on this perfect night, we enjoyed
round 2 of coffee because there was nowhere else we wanted to be than right
there, in that moment, with each other.
This is the memory that I can’t get out of my head. It was
everything about that night. It was being in the city, it was the pizza my Mom
and I shared, it was watching my Dad’s eyes light up while he ate one of his
favourite desserts, it was the feeling I got inside when my parents stood up to
go and get round 2 of coffee. It was the realization that there wasn’t anywhere
else they had to be; they just wanted to be there with me. Tears come to my
eyes as I think about this night and as I consider that this is what it feels
like to be loved. This is what it’s like to be fully present with someone. This
is what it feels like to all of a sudden realize that those people are not just
your parents; they’ve become two of your closest friends.
And when my counselor tells me to close my eyes and think
about a memory that makes me feel safe, and seen, and heard, and loved, this is
what I think about.
And when my mentor talks to me about Jesus just wanting to
be present with me, this is the memory that I compare it to. Because if this is
what it’s like for my parents to just want to be with me, then what might it be
like for my Heavenly Father to just want to be with me?
I don’t know if my parents know just what that round 2 of
coffees meant that night, but for me that second cup of coffee was a spiritual experience
in every way.
Utterly thankful,
The Kindred Spirit
