Friendship Brownies

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“A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I was talking to my friend, Doug, the other day. He is planning a climb of Mt. Adams with his son this summer. It’s a 12,280 foot mountain in Washington State – tall enough to be a challenge but not technical enough to need a lot of equipment and training. The last time we summitted this mountain was with his daughter about 10 years ago when she was 14 years old.

Doug wanted to know if I remembered what packs we carried between our camp at about 9,000 feet and the summit. He is a meticulous packer and doesn’t carry anything more on his back than necessary.

These questions reminded me of a time we were planning a climb on Mt. Rainier that would take place over Doug’s birthday. His wife asked me if I would carry some brownies up to celebrate Doug’s birthday. It was only after I happily agreed that she told me that Doug said he wouldn’t carry them because he didn’t want that unnecessary weight in his pack.

It is probably because of all this carrying of loads that makes one of my favorite meditations is one where I imagine I sit down, empty everything out of my pack, look carefully at each thing I’m carrying. When I’m done sorting through the worries, the presumptions, and fears as well as the love, the purpose, the nostalgia, the energy stored for digging deep, the vulnerability, I mentally load the pack again with only what I need. I always carry a lighter load after that meditation.

But in thinking about those brownies, I realize that friendship means we are willing to carry things for other people that they won’t carry for themselves.

We hold in our packs a version of our friends at their brightest and most creative that can be shown to them when they are in a slump. We carry memories of the times we laughed, did silly things, failed and succeeded. We store all the depth of the ways we have walked side by side on the path as well as the times we waited at an intersection while they took a detour and vice versa.

Then at just the right moment, we unpack the brownies we’ve carried so far and celebrate our friends. There are some things worth the extra weight and friendship is one of them.

(featured image from Pexels)

21 thoughts on “Friendship Brownies”

  7. What a beautiful message, Wynne. I love the layers in this story – from the perspective of you unpacking the load on your back and repacking it what you just need it. A good activity to do, whether literally or through meditation.

    And I appreciate the perspective of how we also help carry the load for our friends. May we be blessed to have such friendships in our lives.

    Gonna go grab a brownie now too! 😊

    Liked by 1 person

    1. You make such a good point about the repacking being a great literal activity too. I’ve gotten so inefficient since I’ve had kids carrying around all sorts of extra stuff!

      Yes, may we be blessed to have such friendship in our lives! I’m grateful to have met you and your family through your writing. Hope your brownie was good. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  8. I love this post! There is so much wisdom and depth in it. The way you described friendship is utterly marvellous and I found myself smiling through and through. And I love your analogy of unpacking everything, meditating and then packing only what one needs. Beautiful post.

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