i know the heart of life is good.

every thursday evening after our step class at the gym, the girls and i go out for dinner. even though we see each other throughout the week, thursday nights seem to be the time for talk and the time for catching up, while quickly jumping from the most serious of issues to the silliest of topics. but, still and always, surrounded by laughter and genuine interest. it's never a fancy dinner and most of the time, we're still in our work-out clothes, tennis shoes and ponytails. but it's those kinds of "small" evenings, and those kinds of sincere moments, that have given us the biggest memories. and it's there where i find so much of me.

the dinner table at our house has always been the center of important conversations, random discussions and, of course, that same kind of laughter and genuine interest i mentioned before. and there we sit. my family and me. catching up on our days, making plans for the evening and enjoying the simple silliness that is our family. and, yet again, it's never a fancy dinner and more often than not, we're in old t-shirts and jeans. but in those "small," sincere moments, the biggest laughs and the most lasting memories are made. and i, once again, find myself in those moments and in the surrounding genuineness.

"our lives are made in these small hours."

with the newest of friends i have met lately, i find similar sincerity in those early getting-to-know-each-other moments. it's then, when you're asked questions about yourself and your life, that you're given the chance to really think about what makes up who you are. it seems to be a good time for new friends to get to know you while you yourself get to know who you are all over again. a breakdown, in other words, of yourself; the "small" pieces of you, in the newest of moments that, together, make up the sincere version of you.

i've talked about this commandment before - surround yourself. this entry, though, has to do with surrounding yourself with sincerity. sincere conversation. sincere laughter. and sincere concern and interest for and from your loved ones. i feel the most like myself, like the most sincere version of myself, when i'm surrounded by my family and friends. it's there, in those "small hours" with them and our soon-to-be memories, where i am reminded most of myself and where i feel those lost pieces of myself falling back into place one by one. it's a getting back, in other words, by surrounding myself with those who know, and who are getting to know, me.

surround yourself with people who encourage you to be yourself, who make you feel at ease in being you, who bring the you right out of you - even, and especially, in the "smallest" of hours. i'm blessed enough to be right in the center of all of this, surrounded with sincerity.