Today I am grateful for my friends.  I know that of our friendships, I am getting the better end of the deal.  BY FAR!  Really, I get to be friends with YOU and you get me 😕

“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.”~ Walter Winchel

“Real friends are those who, when you’ve made a fool out of yourself, don’t fell you’ve done a permanent job.”~ Unknown

“Life is partly what we make it and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.”~ Tennessee Williams

“A true friend is one who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.”~ Bernard Meltzer

Wow.  If there is one thing in this world that I am truly grateful for, it is friends.  I often tell my friends and family that if there is one thing that the Lord has truly blessed me with, it is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. friends.  I honestly don’t know how I became so lucky as to have surrounded myself with such an elect group of ladies that I call my friends.

I think that what I love the most is that you are all different.  You all have different talents and abilities and opinions and lifestyles.  I love you all and I don’t know what I would do without you.

Of my friends, I have some where we have been friends forever.  Others, maybe not quite as long, but it still feels like it has been forever.  Some I lost track of years ago and was so blessed to have you reappear in my life.  I love you and you’re not getting away this time.  Some, bless your hearts, dealt with me in some of my bad times and have given me a second chance.  Thank you.

Let me explain how awesome my friends are.  I have friends who:

*Drive 1111.1 miles across the U.S. to come visit me.
*Tell me the truth straight up.  No sugar coating.  No holds barred.
*Tell me how things will work out and that I am doing ok.
*Bring me a 2 liter Diet Dr. Pepper with a straw taped to it.
*Take me under their wing when my kids get diagnosed with food allergies and do all of my baking for me.
*Call me out of the blue, and sometimes after a very long time, just to check up on me.
*Pray for me.
*Take time out of their trip to Utah to visit with me for a little while.
*Put my name in the temple.
*Decorate my home for Nena’s baptism.
*Listen.  Really really listen.
*Allow me to vent and then vent to me!
*Send me cards and texts just to make me smile.
*Invite me over for holidays when I don’t have my kids.
*Help me clean, organize and pack up my house.
*Tell me when I am wrong.
*Come over to help, without being asked, even though you are deathly allergic to cats.
*Reassure me when I am doing the right thing.
*Love my children.
*Go out of their way to make me a picture book of my children.
*Make me a gift.
*Offer to take my children for an afternoon so that I can go to a ward function.
*Go shopping when I have no clue as to what fashion really is.
*Go with me to my TV appearance and help keep me calm.
*See a need and fill that need.
*Bring their kids over to entertain mine.
*Text to remind me that it is crazy hair day.
*Go on walks with me.
*Dish out amazing advice.
*Move away and still keep contact.  LOVE YOU GUYS!
*Help me face reality.
*Help me move on.
*Become my secretary when I am down and out and arrange for help and meals to come to my house.
*Take an interest in my dumb craft things.
*Forgive me.
*Comment on my blog (hint hint)
*Share all of their recipes and don’t look at me too crazily when I admit that I don’t know how many teaspoons are in a cup 🙂
*Call me a sister, even though that is only in my dreams.
*Tell me they love me.
*Pick up the slack.
*Don’t care that my house or car can *sometimes* be disastrous.

They say that who you surround yourself with is who you become…. I can only hope and pray.  Thank you so much for that.