friendship

I was just thinking about some of my friends. My family members are my absolute best friends, but excluding them in this post, I want to tell you some things that have stood out to me in friendships in my life.

I have a friend who lives just down the street. She's regularly popping in with something delicious - yesterday it was this bouquet of flowers. She does flowers for weddings and had a few leftovers ... so after her extremely long, tiring wedding day, instead of crashing immediately at home, she put together one more arrangement and brought it to me. That's friendship.

About 6 years ago I was going for a morning jog, stepped onto a patch of black ice and flew up in the air, landing smack on my head. Long story short, I was life-flighted with bleeding on my brain. Needless to say, I wasn't too keen on going for another jog - or even a walk for that matter. A couple of months later a very in-tune friend of mine stopped by and said, "We're going for a walk." I came up with every excuse I could think of - everything. She didn't buy any of it, and hit the nail on the head when she said, "I know you're scared. But there's no snow or ice in Totem Park. I was just there. I'll be beside you and we can link arms the whole time. Let's go." Alison got me "back on the bike" ... That's friendship.

Between the ages of 10-14 my best friend was a gorgeous redhead named Gina. I can remember playing cards on her living room floor and laughing so hard that we'd be rolling around clutching our stomachs. Two years ago Gina and I were going to be in the same town at the same time. It had been nearly 40 years since we'd seen each other, but when we got together it was like we were 12-year-olds again. This same thing has happened with my some of my other childhood and college friends - we get together and find that we're still the same. When it's not just the memories that you talk about, but you find yourself opening up and talking about everything ... well, that's friendship!

Here's one of my core beliefs: We're not on this earth to be solo travelers. We're here to link our arms with as many as possible and journey together. This life is an adventure that is meant to be joyous, but throughout this adventure, the way is filled with bumps and holes, mountains and plateaus. When we're linked together, we'll never sink and we'll never stumble so far that we can't get back up. I love my friends - all of them. And each has lifted me, hung on to me, urged me, encouraged me ... in some way - most without knowing it.

HERE'S TO FRIENDSHIP!

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