Being Grateful for Friends

One of the great things about traveling for work is that I have the opportunity to meet a lot of awesome people. Rachel of One Day At a Time is one of those peeps and she just happens to be my current caffeine pusher and also another working mom with whom I can connect during my busy days on the road. During one of our conversations, we realized that we both enjoy blogging and exchanged site addresses. As I was reading her blogs on gratitude, I started thinking about all of the things for which I am thankful. So, I decided to copy borrow her idea and write about gratitude. I am extremely, beyond belief, can’t even express, ever so thankful for my friends. I know people who have great friends and others who have no close friends. I have been blessed with friends from all stages of life. My triple G (Good Good Girlfriend) from undergrad used to pick at me because I did not make friends easily. It’s not that I’m not friendly. It’s just that I have very high standards for people I call friends. My triple G from grad school said that she knew we were friends when I hugged her since she never saw me hug anyone. And my local bestie knows that anything she tells me in confidence will never resurface in another conversation – not even to my hubby. I am loyal to my friends* because I love them and I know they will be there for me.

So, this post on gratitude is about my friends and why I am grateful for them: • They will listen and provide advice (if I ask) without judging; • They will pick up my kids from school not once, not twice, but countless times and never complain about it or expect anything in return (thanks Kendra!); • They will never remind me of the time I called them crying in the middle of the night unless I want to talk about it (and vice versa); • We can fundamentally disagree on a topic, have a heated debate, and then go shopping; • We can go “radio silent” for days/weeks (we never make it to months, thank God!), and pick up like we were in the middle of a conversation; • We can sit in silence and be happy in each other’s company; • We can beat spank discipline each other’s kids with no hard feelings; • We can hang out with each other’s spouses and never have to wonder about improprieties (this pertains to only a small as in ”I can count them one one hand” group of friends); • We feel each other’s pain; • We are genuinely happy (not fake “let me talk about you later” phony) for each other’s accomplishments; • We learn from each other, mentor each other, and nurture each other; • And on and on…

Though I have never been and probably never will be a touchy-feely, super sentimental type of person, I can say that I have immense gratitude for my friends. Thanks to my triple G’s and BFF’s! *My sister is one of my best friends but that relationship is so unique that I will have to blog about it later.