Friend Good!

Friends: Sometimes we have friends that are more like family than our own families. We have friends that we can call and pick up right where they left off months or even years ago.  There are friends that come into our lives only to leave right away.  Sometimes they stay for a long time and for one reason or another they are suddenly gone leaving a wide open hole in our hearts.  This hole takes a long time to heal.  Sometimes it is never quite the same.  Then along comes a new friend who knows what you are going through from their own experiences.   Someone you instantly feel connected to.  They know your thoughts before you think them. They fit in your life like a comfortable old pair of jeans.  They are fun to be around, easy to talk with, to confide in and to relate to.  I bet several people reading this right now are thinking that I must be talking about them… truth is I am.  I cherish all my friends.  I know what limits I need to set with some and what privileges I can allow a few.  I have friends that drive me nuts but I still love them and wouldn’t trade them for the world.  I have been trying to keep myself out of awkward scenarios and avoid confrontation but I need to be true to myself too.  If I hurt anyone in the process I am truly sorry.  I had a friend of many years “ditch” me several years ago and it was one of the most painful things I ever went though.  It felt to me as if that person had died.  For a long time I didn’t have a real explanation for her sudden departure from my life.  Finally a mutual friend told me one of the real reasons was that she didn’t like some of my recent life choices.  They probably were not the best choices but they were mine and mine alone to make.  No one was hurt in the process.  Today as I look back on that friendship I try to remember the good times we had, the laughs, the tears, the joys and the sorrows.  I smile and can finally move on.  I am hoping this coming winter will be a season of new beginnings for me.  I have a feeling that I am about to embark on a new and exciting journey; a new chapter in the book of me.