I'm Thankful for Friends

It is good to have friends. My life is full because not only do I have a family who loves me, but I have friends who make my life complete. I have met many wonderful people during each stage of my life, and I am thankful for those that I have been able to maintain contact with over time. It is not easy, and I am not the best at it, I will be the first to admit. Sometimes I go longer than I should between phone calls or e-mails, but somehow through life's ebbs & flows, we meet again, with another chance to renew the ties that brought us together in the first place. After a few opportunities to commune with old & dear friends over the past few months, friendship is on my mind. I truly am thankful for my friends -

I am thankful for Lesli, who I have known since I was probably 7 & she was 2. Our families trick-or-treated together, lived next door to each other, shared much of life with each other. We went to aerobics together at BYU, wrote letters when she served a mission in Japan, and now, we are moms together, book club readers together, cabin-lovers together, and bloggers together. We will still know each other when our boys are on missions, we will still know each other when I am 75 & she is 70 - she is like my sister.

I am thankful for Jr. High & High School friends - Brad was one & now he is my very best friend & partner in love & life forever! My high school buddy Kimmy is now my "sister" forever - how lucky is that? In February I spent a wonderful couple of hours, with Gina, one of my closest Jr. High & High School friends. We spent countless hours together over those years in our youth, and yet, she & I have not been in very close contact in the years since. However, after just a few moments of being together, it felt like we were sitting at the lunch table at Valley High, talking about what was most important in our lives. I am thankful for Judy & Janet who I am in touch with on a weekly (if not daily) basis thanks to our blogging!

I am thankful for my friend & college freshman roommate, Tracey. She introduced me to a world that I did not know. Until I met Tracey I knew nothing about the Eastern part of the United States. I was a girl from the West who had never been anywhere but the West. If I hadn't met Tracey, I may have never been East to this day. Tracey taught me about what "green" countryside really is - it's not the "brown" mountains of Utah (as Tracey described them), but the lush, green hillsides & tree groves in Pennsylvania. She told me that there are places in the country where grass grows without sprinklers - who knew?! Tracey introduced me to chocolate covered pretzels & Pizza Hut pan pizza. She taught me that there is a sport called field hockey, and that there is a football team in Pennsylvania called the Eagles. Tracey took me to the one & only play I've ever been to on Broadway, & she took me shopping at a store called John Wanamakers. She took me to Amish Country & bought me a "real" philly cheese steak sandwich. As the years have flown by, I have let the busyness of life keep me from keeping in touch with Tracey the way I should. We still live on opposite sides of the country, which makes keeping in touch even more difficult. The one plus we have is that Tracey travels a lot, & on occasion, she has made it out to visit us. In March we got to spend a few precious hours together, for which I am grateful. Such visits always instill a desire to stay in better touch. I am thankful for other college roommates who I may only hear from once or twice a year, but it always makes me so happy to get their Christmas cards & to hear about their lives in places as far away as Alaska & Georgia.

I am thankful for Stephanie, my beloved neighbor who I met almost 8 years ago. When we met the Brackett family one Sunday afternoon, Katie was just a babe in arms. When we found out they were members of our ward, we were thrilled! We became fast friends & our families spent time together going out to dinner, spending New Year's Eves together, going to Canada together, and decorating our houses together. Sadly, the Bracketts left us several years ago to return to California & then to settle in Idaho Falls, but we still love them, even though they deserted us! We just got to spend a little time with the Bracketts this past weekend, and loved every minute. Lacey cried when they left & wanted to know why they had to live so far away. The picture here is of Katie with Reagan, one of Stephanie's daughters. Hard to believe that when we met they were both in diapers!

I am thankful to all my friends for sharing a part of my life. Though I have only mentioned a few by name, I have many others who are dear to my heart - naturally, all my sisters & sisters-in law, who I consider not only sisters, but friends; our neighbors, the Gallaghers & the Owens; my fellow mom friends at the school; the great women I serve with in young women's at church (plus other ward friends); my Pine Valley scrapbooking "sisters", and certainly, there are others. It is good to have friends - I am truly blessed.