Friends, old and new, borrowed and blue

I've been thinking a lot about friends lately. I have been so fortunate in my life to have been friends with countless wonderful people. Friends I grew up with, friends that have come and gone, friends that I worked with, friends who are also family, friends who I don't even know except through this strange bloggy world, random people who affected my mood in a positive way. My friend Melissa wrote a post recently about history - common, shared history among spouses. I love that. I love having history with my friends, too, but tonight, that history makes me sad. I don't have much PRESENT with the people that I share the most history with. My oldest friend in the world, the beautiful Lauren Sanchez Gregory, invited me to be her friend on Facebook. Not knowing anything about Facebook, but wanting to be FRIENDS with my friend, I joined and became her friend. This means I get to see all the other people she is friends with, and read her various comments, etc. Some of the names and faces I recognized, others I didn't. It occurs to me that I don't know my oldest and dearest friend very well anymore. I mean, we have known each other since kindergarten (which seems like yesterday and a hundred years ago all at the same time - see, Melissa, duality!), but we are not day to day friends anymore. When we do get together, every few years or so, it seems like no time has passed, but each of our daily lives is completely foreign to the other. I suppose all of this is compounded by the fact that I am in Idaho and she is still enjoying sunny southern California. The baggage I carry from that move is material for another post, another day. Suffice it to say I am sad and missing old friends tonight.

When I was a younger, I was always the type of person who liked to have just one or two really good friends, and that was it. I now find that I need all my fingers and probably some toes, too, to count the number of people I consider really good friends. Of those, there is still just a handful that I trust with my secrets, but still.... I am feeling abundantly blessed by my friends lately. I have had several experiences with various friends lately that have changed my life in a positive and profound way. Two secret-sharing friends here in Idaho, Jo and Hil, have truly been keeping me afloat since I had Kole. My family's life is exceptionally busy and complicated right now, and I have needed the life preservers they have provided. It's very true that the Lord's work is manifested through His children.

Something has happened that has made me realize once again how much I love and need my husband. I'm not going to go into detail for the whole world to read about (right, like the whole world is reading my blog), but nobody's dead, and it's not some life-altering tragedy, so if you don't know what I'm talking about, call me and I'll tell you. Anyway, things have just been put into perspective for me lately. Sometimes it's not really about who does what around the house, who hauls the kids around to all their stuff, who did the grocery shopping or shoveled the snow. Sometimes it's just about loving someone.

I wish I had room and time to post pics of all of my old, new, and borrowed friends (I'm the blue friend tonight). But, I don't, so here's this cute one of my very best friend.