Friends

Do you remember who your first best friend was?  Do you remember how you became friends?  Do you know where they are now? 

Mine was Kristen Parker.  We met in kindergarten and were inseparable.  I remember sleepovers at her house and my mom having to pick me up early on Sundays because they went to church and I didn’t.  I remember her coming to my birthday party.  I remember us sitting together on the bus when we went on our first ever school field trip to the Houston Zoo. 

Those who know me well know that I will fight to the death not to lose a friendship.  I also struggle with saying that most people are my “best” friend because I feel by just saying friend I’m not giving the friendship due justice. My best friend (see there I go again) Rachel used to make fun of me because I would run into someone somewhere and she would say, “Let me guess…that is your best friend from some other year?” I’m also known for maintaining really great relationships with ex-boyfriends…even when I’m the one who does the breaking up!  Heck I still keep in touch with a random person I befriended on my flight to Indonesia in 2004 who lives in California!

It can be draining sometimes keeping up with so many friends…don’t take that the wrong way though.  There are so many stories I want to tell them and so many questions I want to ask them about their life.  That just can’t be done well with a 15 minute phone conversation every other month.

It also occurred to me that I’m only 28…this will just get harder as I get older and make more friends. 

I have a hard time thinking that the maintaining part relies solely on my shoulders.  I know that I’ve been given a gift of being able to keep up with people and love well on my friends.  With that I think I’ve led myself to believe that since some people struggle with that and it comes easier to me that it is my job to ensure the friendship doesn’t fade away.  I also tend to make myself feel guilty if I’ve not talked to someone in awhile or hung out with them for awhile. 

I have to let that control go…not so easy for me.  I also have to realize that I don’t have to know everything that is going on in everyone’s life.  That’s another struggle for me because I inherited my mother’s “nosey” gene! 

One way that I’ve always felt the Lord has lavished His love on me is through the people He has put in my life at just the right time and how it always seemed to be the exact right people…

Kristen got me through elementary school.

Rachel got me to know the Lord, shared her family with me, and made me an aunt for the first time.

Michelle helped me survive high school and all the broken hearts along the way…and continues to be my rock!

Courtney, the Jerks, and Phurst made college life a hilarious and life changing event.

CP walked with me through the ups and downs of living in Indonesia.

Emily taught me how to survive the first few years of teaching.

Chad helps keep my head on straight and calls me out on really hard things from time to time.

Cobb and Lauren I am forever indebted to for holding my hand through losing my dad.

Jodi helped me (and continues to help me) to feel not alone as I walked the journey through grief.

Mindy came into my life when I desperately needed a partner in crime at school and someone to get me through the long days of teaching.

Ryan is a constant encouragement in my life and someone who can make me laugh no matter what is going on.

Megs, Chelsea, and Amy helped me laugh and triumph over my first year as a 1^st grade teacher.

Kate gave me a home and has been a breath of fresh air since I first met her and shared a room with her.

Some of these people live nearby and some far away.  Some I’ve known for half my life and some for just a couple of years.  Oh how my cup runneth over with the friends in my life!

There’s a big chance that my life is about to bring about even more big changes.  With that comes the possibility of having to work harder to maintain friendships that are so easy right now.  And that means letting more people into my circle of friends in the next spot the Lord places me.

I may whine about long phone calls or not having enough days in the summer to visit everyone, but somehow it all works out.  Plus life would be so incredibly boring without all these people in my life!

Thanks to everyone for putting up with me and for letting me claim you as my best friend even if to others you just call me friend!