Whene'er you make a promise...

Whene'er you make a promise
Consider well its importance
And, when made, engrave it upon your heart

Yesterday was a huge day for Girlguiding UK - it was 201020102010...

At 20:10 on October 20, 2010, something like 500,000 members of Girlguiding UK renewed their promises, together. At 20:10 here in Vancouver I renewed my promise in my head. Because my kid wouldn't go to sleep...anyway...and I used the old promise because I'm a bad Girl Guide and I haven't learned the new one.

And all this happened not because of the cool date, but because Girlguiding UK and Girl Guides of Canada (and some other countries that I don't know off the top of my head) are all celebrating 100 years of Girl Guides this year. There will be more celebrations in 2011 and 2012 too...it took more than a year for Guiding to establish itself around the world! Heck, it's still establishing itself some places.

But it got me thinking (and it's not even World Thinking Day)...Alex always marvels at the friends I have in other countries. Real friends, not just people I've met at some point and now because of Facebook they're my "friends". He doesn't have that - mostly because I became friends with most of those people while living in another country and he's never had that opportunity.

But I think about how easily I became friends with some of these people (mostly women due to the nature of the organization) and it amazes me.

Because normally I'm slow to make friends. I make sure I really know and trust you before I decide that we can be friends. Because, especially before I went to Pax Lodge the first time, I am the person who sits at the edge of the group and observes and is anxious and nervous and not really at ease. FOR WEEKS. (I've become more extroverted and less wall flowery as I've gotten older!)

I swear that when I went to boarding school, the first year I had a few friends in the first few months and I didn't really have lots of friends until the last month or so of school. The second year was so much better...now, that's in hindsight and my 16 year old self might not have agreed. And I love how many of those friends I'm still in touch with and would still consider friends not "friends from high school" which is really just another way to say acquaintance...

But back to these very quick (and now lasting) friendships I made in Guiding...

I think it was easier for me to make friends quickly with these women because the thing that brought us together, the thing that we shared, gave us (gives us) a set of values that we try to live our lives by. That even though we came from different backgrounds, spoke different languages, ate different things for breakfast, we already had established that common ground to build our friendships on. Now, I didn't become really good friends with every one of the 80+ women I worked with over 2 1/2 years, because really, even with that same common foundation, there are bound to be people who just don't mesh. But...Alex and I sent over 60 Christmas cards last year. Some to family, some to friends, and many more to my (now our) Guiding family.

These women are an amazing bunch of ladies! I've laughed until I cried with them, I've cried openly with them - not just sympathy crying, and I've eaten (and maybe drank) too much with them...we shared all kinds of new experiences, travel, songs, and stories...we lived and worked together and really got to know each other. There were three or four of them at our wedding. I've been to at least two (maybe three) of their weddings and had to decline a number of other invitations. I've held their babies and played with their kids. They've held our baby. One of them even made me her daughter's godmother. Gifts and cards have been sent over oceans and across continents to celebrate marriage, birth, birthdays, Christmas, and each other. Sympathy and assistance has been extended in times of need, loss, sickness, and injury. I wouldn't hesitate to turn to my Guiding friends for anything - advice (I've done that), a laugh (done that too), or someone who will just listen (ditto!).

When I first made my promise when I was nine years old, there was no way I knew what a huge impact it was going to have on my life. So, as much as a nine year old could, I considered my promise and I made it for the first time. I've renewed my promise countless times since then and every single time I make, I hear that song in my head. I know it's important. Being part of this organization has made me who I am today. And much of what is going on in my life right now is because of Guiding - I started working where I work now because a Guiding friend recommended me to her boss as her maternity leave replacement (that was 5 1/2 years ago!). I met Alex because I became good friends with a woman I met through Guiding who worked with a good friend of Alex's from high school. And if I hadn't met Alex, well, I wouldn't have J, would I?!

I guess my promise (outdated words and all) *IS* engraved on my heart...