A Renewed Appreciation for Independence Day
Independence Day has become more important to me as I've gained some perspective on the world, and learned that in the US of A we have it pretty dang good... yes there's corruption up the chain and the government is a wreck, but at the day to day level for an individual setting 2 feet on God's green earth... there's a LOT worse places on the earth to be. And so as we all celebrate with cookouts and stuff I was getting ready to have a great time with a few friends enjoying some that tastey freedom...
Friends and Boundaries
We hosted this gathering and pretty clearly scheduled it until 630 PM which is when we typically get our daughters ready for bed (yes yes early bedtime... they're up PLENTY early so don't you worry). These friends know our kids and our early nightly routine, so nothing was unexpected here
However, my entire life as I've had some kind of boundary to keep personally, I've had to make sure that that boundary was respected very actively, or work to remind people of it... Overstaying your welcome is a general example here.
So I was definitely ready to start reminding people about the time come 6:15ish...
Well I got pulled away needing to tend to my youngest daughter's tantrum and in that time several minutes passed, but one key thing happened...
everyone got ready to go
While I was tending to my kid, my friends got all ready to leave on time...
Great guests know when it's time to leave and don't make it your responsibility to end the time of hanging out. And honestly that's the whole post... Today all of our friends were mindful of the time, gave their kiddos adequate warnings, and everyone's cars were gone by 6:38...
I found myself SHOCKED and concerned that I had offended everyone and they couldn't wait to leave. But no... it was our friends knowing our boundary and not making it my responsibility to kick everyone out. They're good friends who know our girls go to bed early. The thing I am struck by is in mulling over the concern of having offended someone what I realized is...
I realized that my friends here freed me from having to protect my own boundaries and it's hard to put that into words...
Without the words to describe it - I am grateful to have a community that is considerate of others (ie. me and my family).