The Circle

This week I've thought a lot about friendship and what being a friend means. Dictionary. com gives the following defintion:

friend

–noun

1. a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard. 2. a person who gives assistance; patron; supporter: friends of the Boston Symphony. 3. a person who is on good terms with another; a person who is not hostile: Who goes there? Friend or foe?

But really, does this do the word justice? I don't think so. In my lifetime, I have been lucky to have many friends. I have had really good friends that have stuck with me through the years. I have had friends in the moment. I have had friends that are family and will never, ever get away from me. Everywhere I have been in my life, school, different places of work, colleges, I have made new friends. Some that I have kept in constant contact with and some that I found again on Facebook (which is the devil and a blessing at the same time, but that's a whole other blog topic), and some that I don't even see or talk to anymore. But at this point in my life, I feel extremely blessed at the amount and quality of friends I have in my life. I have friends who will listen to me when life doesn't go my way. I have friends who will pray with me, and for me. I have friends who will cook dinner for me after I have a baby. I have friends who will come hang out at my house and "watch" a movie while both my kids are running around screaming. I have friends who will be waiting in my driveway when I get home. I have friends who will let me cry when I need to. I have friends who will sit at the hospital until the wee hours of the night with me when my daddy is sick. I have friends who understand that I am not perfect, that I make mistakes, but will love me unconditionally. I have friends who come to my house when it's filthy and I know they will not judge. I have friends that just show up because even though I don't ask, they know they are needed. I have friends that will keep my kids and truly enjoy doing it. I have friends that LOVE my kids. I have friends that will tell me the truth, even if I don't want to hear it. I have friends that hug me and tell me that they love me. I have friends that don't just hear me, they really listen. I have friends who know what I am going to say before it even comes out of my mouth...maybe before I even think about saying it. There are so many things that I could say about the people that I call friends. Some of these people are family, who have really seen me at my best and at my worst. Who are bound to me by blood, but friends with me by choice. Some of these people are coworkers or former coworkers, who have made it a point to be in my life. I will say that the school I work at now is a very, very special place. People who have never experienced a workplace like mine cannot understand the power that it has. To be able to go every day and work with your best friends is a gift like no other. God definitely had a hand in placing people there. Some of these are friends from school and college, who I may not see every day, but I know without a shadow of a doubt that I could count on them for anything.

Having this circle, this group of friends, is an amazing, wonderful thing. I can't imagine my life without them. My mother always wished for us to be blessed with good people in our lives, and I'm glad that she can see her wish has come true for me.

 

“A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are.”

“I'd like to be the sort of friend that you have been to me, I'd like to be the help that you've been always glad to be; I'd like to mean as much to you each minute of the day, as you have meant old friend of mine, to me along the way.”

“A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked”