Friendships

I never knew the value of a friend as a child. I had plenty of friends and playmates and enjoyed every one of them. But I didn't know that as I grew older, friends would not only be part of my life but they would be necessary in my life. Friends come in different shapes, sizes, with different personalities and qualities. Some of our friends may be family members, our mother or father, a brother or sister, an aunt, cousin or grandparent. Others aren't family members but feel like family. We have friends who provide a shoulder to cry on when we need it, those who make us laugh, share a drink with us, those who call us 10 times a day to make sure we're ok. We have friends for shopping with us, friends for going to a movie with us. And then we have that special friend. The friend who does all of the above and more. The friend that comforts us, makes us feel better when we're feeling down, supports our every decision(even the bad ones), babysits our kids, watches us as we cry, cries in front of us. We have friends that not only make us laugh but laugh with us and sometimes at us but they also laugh at themself. I have just such a friend. Since starting the most painful process in my life thus far...divorce....this friend has stood by me, helped with so many things, gone to court with me, watched my kids, listened to me vent, rant and complain, stood by me as I cried telling me it would be ok, has made me laugh more than I thought possible at such a vulnerable point in my life and has allowed me to keep her on the phone for hours at a time, allowed me to sit in her house doing nothing though she had plenty she wanted to do, just because I couldn't bear being at home at that moment. How do you ever repay such kindness? I realized you don't because a real friend doesn't expect you to. Hopefully just by being a good friend, listening to her when she needs me to, helping her when she needs it and just being there for her, will be the cycle of friendship. I hope to have this friend in my life, as a friend, forever. I feel she's the type of friend that you don't find often and when you do...keep them in your life.
Here's to friendship!