random ramblings

(Sorry about the length but I really got to thinking on this one.)

Ok so I was catching up on my fav blogs when this post got me to thinking about my friends. I left a comment on her post but I wanted to expound a little more here.

I have had many friends over the course of my life. (and I know that I am not that old but a over a quarter of a century has passed since I graced the world with my presence.) I won't list them all for fear of forgetting one or two of the great ones but I would like to talk a little about some anyway.

In grade school I was really close to a couple of girls. We were like 3 peas in a pod. We went to birthday parties and had sleepovers and everything. However when I made choices in my life that were different than the ones that they were making we kinda drifted apart. I miss the good times we had and am grateful for facebook in that I can catch up on their lives. However I also am reminded of why I am grateful for the choices I did make.

In high school, I was really close to Jeni and Hannah. We were the three musketeers. For a long time I thought the friendship was Jeni and Hannah and I was tagging along a lot. I found it funny (and an interesting commentary on our friendship) when I discovered that Jeni had always felt that it was Hannah and I and she tagged along. She also enlightened me that sometimes Hannah felt that she was the tag along to us!! If you put us in a room today we will pick right up where we left off. No matter how much time or distance has been between us.

Now I have a friend that is so much like a sister to me that in fact I refer to her as such. I am aunt to her kids and she is another daughter to my mother. I would NOT have made it to this point in my life without her. The choices that I have made to put me where I am today would have not been the same without her as a sounding board. Love ya Kristie.

Also my parents are among this group as well. My father adopted me when I was a young child and was a stabilizing influence to show me what to look for in a father for my children. My mother taught me good values and always knew that I could do whatever I set out to do. We may not always see eye to eye and sometimes I am a typical daughter and make choices that she wouldn't have me make, but I do love her and will always value her opinion (even if I don't agree with it ;).

All through this life however there have been others to get me where I am. They all helped to shape me to who I am today. From teachers to church youth leaders to members of the church who watched over me growing up. And many other friends that have come and gone. I only hope that you know who you are and how much you really have shaped me into who I am.

As I stated on Amy's post:
As our lives change and rearrange, sometimes our friends do too. They were what we needed then (or maybe they needed us, or both we never know how God works) and as time has moved on and circumstances have changed our life paths seperate. This is not always bad or caused by a falling out. Life just happens, I have noticed however that we never lose those people in our hearts. The stamp that they left on our life will forever be remembered and will shine through. Years after we last spent time with that person we can still identify that little bit of ourselves that refers back to them. And when we see them again, our hearts will warm with the memory.