To: All Who Play Squishy Sardines

Do you know the game squishy sardines? It's like hide & seek but backwards! I recommend it highly and to large groups only!

Squishy Sardines:

OVERVIEW: One person (It) goes & hides. The rest of the group counts to whatever number (or tonight we all faced the garage & sang nursery rhymes) and then separate and try and find It. Once you find It, you go and hide with It wherever It is! The last person to find It, becomes the next round's It! =]

EXAMPLE: One time I was It and hid laying down in the bathtub. Then as people found me they just toppled on top of me! It's a riot!

=] So tonight Caro held a movie night at his house - while he hates hosting things because he gets preoccupied with being a host & doesn't have as much fun - we all had a blast! We never actually ended up watching a movie...haha...I guess that's kind of the point of movie night isn't it? hahaha. Oops. Well, we always get distracted & goofy & even when a movie's on none of us can pay enough attention to care! =P Caro's sister and I made a huge bowl of popcorn (I got a kernel stuck in my throat =\ that happens to me quite often) and there were plenty sodas to go around..aka. excellent snackage! ;] Eventually though we all got the munchies and decided to take a little road trip to get some Mexican food! I introduced some to the glory that is carne asada fries (God really knew what he was doing with that one!!) and there was some table reminiscing - nostalgically sitting around remembering all the high school funnies we went through, witnessed or in some cases caused! Then I drove, yes I drove, Caro, myself & a friend back to his house & we decided to play de squish of le sardinias! ;] haha. Tis was very fun & a personal accomplishment of mine was that I managed to avoid being It! woo!! We were playing outside in Caro's neighborhood which is not at all well lit! Quite eerie actually :\ But anyhow after about an hour & a half of running up and down his street...which is a hill, mind you...it was time for moi to take my out of shape butt back home! =[

Moments like tonight just make me elated & completely happy! I have great friends & we spend a wonderful time together! There are some people in my town that, I'm sure, have nothing better to do than drink, smoke, party or live a life they never thought they'd be trapped in. But none of us are like that! We're all satisfied running around in the middle of the street looking like small children chasing each other with Barbie Jeeps!

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one
another.

1 John 4:11

Honestly blogging, that's one area of my life that I don't think I've ever been neglectful of. I'm so appreciative of my friends...really, I appreciate YOU soooo much!....it's just...a friend that you love is someone who isn't family. They're not blood relatives or second cousins, branches off your family tree. They don't share your same heritage sometimes, traditions and aspirations, but they're people who love you in spite of who you are!! haha. I'm not close to perfect, but these people, all my friends, love me for me. And the best part? They don't have to! Nope! They could care less about me, and I could care less about them...but I don't! I love them, wish them well, respect them, pray for them. They're your friend family you know? Your second family. Brothers & sisters whom you love and love you back! People that God brings into your life for a specific purpose, to teach you, show you, support you, tell you the truth when you don't want to hear it.

Last year, around this time, there was an event at school aimed at preventing teen driver accidents. I lost a friend to a very serious car accident and the images that I saw flooded back that day and I broke down as the rest of my senior class walked past me to 3rd period. One of my great friends, Mimi, hugged me real tight & just let me cry. We had the next class together, it was choir, and as soon as we made it through the doors back from the presentation, we darted straight for the back room. We just sat, I didn't say anything, and she put her arms around me and not only let me cry on her shoulder, but cried with me. At the time, she didn't know why or what had bothered me, but it didn't matter, she was there and she saw me broken - what a true friend, huh? I was broken, and she broke herself too, for my sake. Mimi is one of my only non-Christian friends, but she embodies so much grace and compassion so much so that I know waaay down deep, that it's God working through her. Because that kind of love ONLY comes from Christ!

I have some amazing friends and ever since I was little God would show me His mercy through them, every day, all the time! I'm so incredibly thankful for being blessed with brothers & sisters not only in neighborhood games, but in seeking to be closer to Him, seeking His word and showing me His love. =]

Goodnight everyone! I hope you all had wonderful days & spent them with wonderful friends!

From: Me