I wanted to just write a bit tonight about the importance of friends in my life. I have always considered myself a people person, just like my dad, but I think that I just thought that everyone else was too. That was until a few years ago.
To find one close friend in your lifetime is amazing. Also important and so valuable to our well-being on a daily basis would be the other kind of friends. That would be the ones that you see more frequently, sometimes daily, and when you are with them, you laugh and talk as if you had never stopped. I have friends like that. Friends that I made when I was teaching or working with Special Olympics. You share a common sense of humor and some common values or experiences and before you know it, you have friends. Some people I know have joked that I could talk to a wall, and that is likely true. The older I get, the more comfortable I become in my own skin...whether it is stretched over too much weight or aching from various "old woman" pains. It is easier now for me to just be "me" than at any other time in my life.
I think the best friends are the ones that you can count on when you need a friend the most....sometimes without saying a word at all. When your world seems upside down and nothing is going right...its good to seek out a friend that will understand without an explanation or question.
I think those "daily" kind of friends are great too. I remember so many great folks that I worked with in my classroom as we shared frustrations, irritations and even laughs together. Those are the folks that know when you don't feel well, when your child is having a hard time in their life, that sew up a Halloween costume when they know a young mother is overwhelmed and running out of time...it is the friend that knows what you like to drink in summer or winter and picks one up when they stop on the way to work to get theirs too. Daily friends know your peculiar eating habits, even when they are directly opposite their own; they listen...REALLY listen when you talk about your frustration about money and jobs and ex-husbands. Daily friends are the ones that know the names of all of your relatives although they may have never met them. Daily friends are your strongest cheerleaders and toughest critics.
I love it when a friend grows comfortable enough in your relationship to know when you need space or when you need to be surrounded by love and caring. They know when you need a hug...or when to help you in a fictional plot to get rid of someone that has been unfair. and I think some of them really WOULD help with that!
It is important to realize a couple of things too. One is that you really have to be a good friend in order to have and keep friends. It sounds "old" to say that but it is true. Your real friends are forgiving, but if you ARE a friend then they don't have to be forgiving. Being a friend forever (BFF like they say in junior high) means standing up and doing what is right even when everyone around you thinks your actions are crazy....but your friend is counting on you to be true to yourself.
I'm so thankful to have known so many friends in my life...
To find one close friend in your lifetime is amazing. Also important and so valuable to our well-being on a daily basis would be the other kind of friends. That would be the ones that you see more frequently, sometimes daily, and when you are with them, you laugh and talk as if you had never stopped. I have friends like that. Friends that I made when I was teaching or working with Special Olympics. You share a common sense of humor and some common values or experiences and before you know it, you have friends. Some people I know have joked that I could talk to a wall, and that is likely true. The older I get, the more comfortable I become in my own skin...whether it is stretched over too much weight or aching from various "old woman" pains. It is easier now for me to just be "me" than at any other time in my life.
I think the best friends are the ones that you can count on when you need a friend the most....sometimes without saying a word at all. When your world seems upside down and nothing is going right...its good to seek out a friend that will understand without an explanation or question.
I think those "daily" kind of friends are great too. I remember so many great folks that I worked with in my classroom as we shared frustrations, irritations and even laughs together. Those are the folks that know when you don't feel well, when your child is having a hard time in their life, that sew up a Halloween costume when they know a young mother is overwhelmed and running out of time...it is the friend that knows what you like to drink in summer or winter and picks one up when they stop on the way to work to get theirs too. Daily friends know your peculiar eating habits, even when they are directly opposite their own; they listen...REALLY listen when you talk about your frustration about money and jobs and ex-husbands. Daily friends are the ones that know the names of all of your relatives although they may have never met them. Daily friends are your strongest cheerleaders and toughest critics.
I love it when a friend grows comfortable enough in your relationship to know when you need space or when you need to be surrounded by love and caring. They know when you need a hug...or when to help you in a fictional plot to get rid of someone that has been unfair. and I think some of them really WOULD help with that!
It is important to realize a couple of things too. One is that you really have to be a good friend in order to have and keep friends. It sounds "old" to say that but it is true. Your real friends are forgiving, but if you ARE a friend then they don't have to be forgiving. Being a friend forever (BFF like they say in junior high) means standing up and doing what is right even when everyone around you thinks your actions are crazy....but your friend is counting on you to be true to yourself.
I'm so thankful to have known so many friends in my life...
