Kiersten & the Orange Mat

I took my first hot yoga class last weekend. At first I wasn't sure what I had gotten myself into yet, within the next ten minutes I knew I had come to the right place.


As I challenged my body to do poses and positions I had never attempted to do in a room hotter than a Bulldogs game in Georgia, I began shedding my body of stresses and anxieties I had been carrying for weeks. I gave in to the depth of my old strength and flexibility that I had not seen in quite a while.


I went into the class with a ball of nerves because, although I love to try new things, if I'm not certain I'm going to master it, I feel a little rattled inside. I'm a perfectionist and it's a battle I fight every day. But, there was something that gave me great comfort when I began that yoga class---my bright, orange happy mat. Why? It was a gift from my friend Kiersten and I felt comfortably stronger as soon as I rolled it out.

My friend Kiersten recently moved away to London. It's been many years since I found myself having to say goodbye to a friend and feeling that a piece of my heart was leaving as well.

I knew Kiersten was a forever friend the night Dave threw me a surprise 30th birthday party. The evening started out at my favorite New York City spot, Magnolia Bakery. Kiersten was the first guest to arrive and she was waiting outside the bakery--huge grin, "Foxy" T-shirt (because she is) and my favorite flavored MB cupcake in hand. 

Something you need to know about me. I am a stickler for being on time and it makes a huge impression on me when someone shows up. And, I mean shows up.  They're there and they're fully present. That is this girl. She is early, she is there and she stays until the bitter end. She is that way and has always been that way. She is a good friend.

Kiersten has been there for me--letting me crash at her pad on a weekly basis so I didn't have to commute into the city to teach my fitness classes, baby showers, reading at our 5th wedding Anniversary vow renewal, moves, closed magazines, waiting patiently for me to eat a dessert at just about every meal we have ever eaten together even though she doesn't like sweets, snow storms, more themed parties than she'd probably like to admit, and being the sole person in the universe to know the sex of my child and keeping it a secret even when bribed by my sweet mother-in-law. 

(This totally hip single gal threw me a baby shower when I was pregnant with Hunter.

That says a LOT about our friendship.)

(Hunter was smitten from the first time he laid eyes on her.)

(...and still is.)

(Holding Emerson for the first time.)

As Dave says, good friends are hidden gems and they are few and far between. Kiersten is one of my gems and I am blessed to call her a friend. 

There is a verse that says, "a mirror reflects a man's face, but what he is really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses."(Proverbs 27:19). If my heart is reflected by my choice in Kiersten as a friend then I could die tomorrow and have a smile on my face.

I miss you Kiersten and I know London is a lot more lovely with a little KG there!  

Now excuse me while I clean up these used tissues and refresh my make-up. But, all while doing it I know I have this bright orange happy mat upstairs that I can sit on anytime I need to be reminded of good friends and girl power. Om!!!!!

"Don't be dismayed at good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends."
- Richard Bach