friday five: friends

Jan at Revgals writes:
Ever since I found out I could be the hostess for the third Friday Five of each month, I have not been able to get the thought of friends out of my mind. Being an only child (all growed up) who moved around a lot in my lifetime, friends have always been very important to me. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote: "The way to have a friend is to be a friend."So today let's write about the different kinds of friends we have, like childhood friends, lost friends, tennis friends, work friends, and the list goes on. List 5 different types of friends you have had in your life and what they were/are like.

I am blessed to have some amazing friends, and I am especially blessed that they put up with my less-than-stellar care of them sometimes. (So many things in my life need rehabilitation...)

Among my blessings are:

Cross-generation friends--

Jimmy and Barbara were friends of my grandmother, then my Mom, and for a good number of years now friends of mine as well. They have a unique place in my family's life, but the blessing is that beyond being family friends, I count them as personal friends as well. They are fun, witty, smart, compassionate, generous, selfless, hospitable, and the list goes on. I wish we lived closer, but at least I get to see them a couple of times at year.

Young friends--

This is Sammy, who fits the description "If I had a daughter of my own I would want her to be Sammy." Along with Johanna, my goddaughter, I have received the gift of being able to exercise the Mom gene with my young friends. They have come for sleepovers. I have attended their school functions. I have sewn for them, knitted for them, cooked for them, taken them shopping, listened to them, loved them. And more. They have no idea how incredibly important it has been for me to have them as "daughters." No idea. I'm crying as I write...

Cyber friends--

My life is so rich with wonderful cyber friends. These relationships began through a scrapbooking message board, then others came through beliefnet, and now via the blog world. A cyberfriend in New Zealand is my confessor (she's a non-believing RC, perfect choice!) and my twin in so many ways. Others help me exercise my funny bone because they help me laugh, and laugh, and laugh some more. Others offer hugs and send flowers when I'm going through a rough patch (well, they all offer hugs, some have the "send flowers" gene). Still others inspire me with their creativity, and others live such amazing lives and rise to challenges that would leave me in a heap that they have my undying admiration and respect. And they're smart. I like smart. And creative. Did I mention that? And witty. Those three attributes top my list.

Local friends--

For a transplant like me this is a very important category! They're the ones with whom I go eat sushi, hold yard sales, call in emergencies, call just because (and it helps to know their schedule!), and who bail me out when I haven't yet recognized that I need bailing. They conspire to throw me birthday parties (thanks Yolande!) and pay attention to details that emerge at birthday parties (that would be you, Wendi, even though you don't read this). These friends ground me in a different way than some of my down-deep, there-in-the-crux friends. Couldn't do without 'em!

Through thick and thin friends--

There are fewer of these, and they hold a place of honor that I revere. They not only listen to me whine, but they catch my tears, scrape me off the floor, soar through the air with me, understand with silence too deep for words, emerge when I didn't know I needed them... Some are near and some are far, but when push comes to shove, they come through like no one else. They are heart heroes to me.




Okay I'm crying now, and I have a funeral this morning and still need to print bulletins, get dressed, figure out what I'm going to say... I want to ask my revgal friends if they vest when doing funeral home services. Do you? I'm not going to. (Wish there was a quick and easy way to be in touch when these things come up!). No bonus link today, but I want to give a nod to Kim and Diane as new cyber friends who help keep me centered. And I learned of them through the revgals!

Thanks for giving me some time for my inner being as I start my day. My soul needs my friends. I love you all!