Friendship is Precious

But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine. Thomas Jefferson

Week 32

I must tell you…I am realizing that writing this blog is putting me in a very vulnerable position.  I went back and re-read my blog from last week…my, my, my…what a pity party I was having. I was pretty pathetic sounding was I not?  Thank you for returning to read another blog.

The root canal was a success and even though I picked up my husband’s cold in the meantime….I’m feeling much better now…My husband, my sister, and my daughter are all feeling better as well, and my granddaughter’s chin is healing nicely.  So thanks to the benevolent arrangement Jefferson was referring to and my precious friends, this week I’m living in sunshine rather than the shade.

Anyone that knows me, knows that I like to repeat this saying regularly.   "‘It’s not what happens in our life, but how we choose to react to it.... that determines our happiness in life."   And our reaction to what happens to us often requires us to reflect on our experiences and see what we can learn from them.

So in light of that thought, here is my reflections on lessons learned last week.....maybe more like lessons relearned:

·    When you admit you are hurting….your friends listen.  Thank you friends, for letting me whine and complain.

·    When you admit you’re hurting…your friends rush to your side.

Within several hours of posting my blog I had a number of phone calls, emails, text messages, personal visits and hugs.  Bless your hearts for being so sweet.

·    When you admit that you are hurting….Your friends remind you how much they care about you. One of my friends told me I was in her prayers every day.  Do you know how much that warmed my heart?  Another of my friends gave me a yummy dessert to make me feel better. My 84 year old neighbor came over to see if I wanted to sit and share a beer with her.

·    When you admit you are hurting….you hear wonderful reminders and great advice.  Not only do our friends give us hugs when we’re down, but they make suggestions and give us a rope to pull us out of our pit.  My sister told me it made her so sad each time she drove by the hospice house, where my mother spent the last years of her life, so she  decided to turn that sadness into a prayer. Each time she drives by now she says a prayer for the families of the current hospice patients.  I love that idea of taking your own pain and using it to soothe others.

·    When you admit that you are hurting…..you realize others are hurting as well. I heard about some of your trials as well and realized that always, always, always, there is someone you care about that is hurting.  But most of us go through life keeping our aches and pains to ourselves, dealing with our ‘down in the dumps’ alone.  And instead of reaching out to our friends, we suffer alone.  Why do we do that? 

·    When you admit you are hurting…your friends sit with you in the shadow for a bit and then take your hand and lead you out into the sunshine. 

Thank you, my precious friends, I count you as a true blessing in my life.

This coming week I plan to reboot and get back on track.