Friends

I truly have the best friends in the entire world. I’m sure everyone thinks that of their friends but I just want to set the record straight here. I win. I am the most blessed because my friends rock. J Let me give you a few examples …

I had coffee with a friend a few weeks ago – and by coffee I mean hot chocolate (or sometimes chai) because as you should know, I hate coffee. We were talking about our future travel plans and she was completely engaged in what I was telling her. As I was talking I asked about her plans and she looked at me and responded, “are you sure you’re done?” Now, this may sound sarcastic via this online posting, but it definitely did not come across that way in person and was not intended that way. I was taken aback by the selflessness of her actions and the selfishness of mine. She sat there and listened to me go on and on and on when she had big news of her own to share. I was just so wrapped up in my story that I didn’t bother to check in with her first. Friendship point for her, zero for me.

This last weekend my brother and sister and I threw a surprise party for our parents to celebrate of their 50th birthdays and their 25th (almost 26th) anniversary. A friend of mine texted me on Friday to check in and see how things were going. I hadn’t talked to her about the party in probably over two weeks! It made me remember how she had told me she was going to go skydiving and I didn’t remember to ask her about the adventure until a picture had been posted on facebook. Now, I don’t remember is she told me when the adventure was going to be taking place, but I still should have remembered. No friendship points gained for me here, one for her though.

A friend called me a few weeks ago to say hi. That was it. She just wanted to tell me that she had enjoyed hanging out with me a few days earlier and that she hoped I would have a great rest of my day. How could I not have a huge smile on my face for the rest of the day? Point for her.

There are so many more stories I could share about different friends asking me for advice and sharing stories with me. I love knowing that my friends respect my opinion and care about what I have to say. I am thankful when a friend can confide something in me or share something personal. I feel as though our friendship is validated and real and not forced.

I have always felt like I have surrounded myself with awesome people and recently I have just been noticing more and more how true that is. In the last few months the little things that my friends do to show me they care have become abundantly clear. I’ve even begun to hold a mirror to myself and wonder if I am being as good of a friend back to them.

So to all of my friends out there – thank you for being amazing and wonderful. You mean the world to me and I would surely be lost without you. I hope that I can be as good a friend to you as you have been to me because you deserve to have an equally good friend, we all do.