Month of Gratitude - November 2

My life is blessed and made fuller with wonderful friends. 

There are friends I have known since my childhood; siblings, cousins and neighbors. I love when we get together and share stories of those carefree days of longer than I want to admit ago.  Community parties, youth sports, school programs - participated in together as children and now as adults cheering our own children on let me know that life is not lived alone.

There are my friends from school; high school and college.  Through the wonders of Facebook, I have been able to reconnect with so many.  It is such a fun group; so many good times back in the day and these friends have gone on to have amazing and wonderful lives.  Yet lives filled with ups and downs, joys and sorrows.  Again, I know that life is not lived alone.

And there are the friends of my adulthood; friends I have made since my marriage to Rick, that we have made together.  These friends share our mutual history.  We have been together through the lean times and the hearty times, through the rocky times and when the waters have run smooth.  Some we have known as long as we have been together, others have come into our lives more recently. With some we have moved together and then moved in different directions, but we still maintain that connection and with all we try to support and cheer each other on. 

When I look at my days, I know that they would be diminished and a little dimmer without all these friends.  Each has a story, and each story is worth taking the time to hear.  Each story shared has made me a better person and helped me know in my darkest times that I am not alone.