Friends

Friends - I count myself lucky because I have many!  Funny thing about friends is that while they may always be your friend, they may not always be the friends you know.  There are so many wonderful people out there ... you know who you are ... who at one point or another in my life, or at several points in my life have been there, present, listening, aware and involved, but aren't now.  I still hold them close to my heart, but we are either in different locations, or different phases of life and don't have the same connections.  Heavens!  Just the pure insane 'busy'ness of my life right now, keeps me from truly seeing my friends here as much as I want to and some of them live next door or work with me at work/church!   Trying to stay in touch with those scattered all over the world seems so daunting to me and honestly just doesn't happen, except an occasional Christmas card.   There are even lots of people that I consider friends that I don't really know that well, who I want to know better, but because of life it is kind of on 'hold'.  Interesting though, that I don't stop thinking about them - any of them!  I don't stop missing them.  And, most importantly, they don't stop affecting me and changing me.  To me, a good friend is someone who makes you better than you are, who leaves something with you, in your heart that you will never forget and shapes who you are and how you interact with everyone else around you.   There are so many of you that have done that for me and continue to do that for me.  I hope that someday, maybe in the next life, I'll be able to gather my friends both near and far, past and present (or future for that matter) or at least spend time with them and enjoy their spirit and presence again.  Today, I am thankful for friends, for people who see me for who I am, who forgive me, who have lunch with me, who call me on my birthday, who think about me and pray for me, who listen to me ramble, who let me freak out, who have confidence in me, who share, who love, who have taken the time to be a friend.  I am grateful and I will never be the same because of it!