I have some amazing friends, old, new, and just getting know friends that make me laugh until I double over from my stomach hurting, and who send me encouraging emails, Face book messages, IM’s, phone calls, and texts in order to see how I am doing and to check in with me. Who can ask for anything better? I have three incredible friends that I have known for a while and I have one that I am building a relationship with, and then one that is like a mentor to me, but she doesn’t know it yet. Perhaps, I will tell her someday. Can you guess what section I am on today, if you guess social/friendships then you are correct.
First of all, I am going to start talking about my fabulous friend Summer, who is running several business, volunteering for Love Overwhelming, starting her own organization in order to help our community among other things she is up and running all the time. If I could I would kidnap her and take her away to the beach with a big bag of books and crocheting supplies so that we could dig our feet in the sand and relax. That will not happen for some time, but I can dream, right? I met Summer in seventh grade at Monticello middle school in a math class. I have no regulation what possessed us to start talking to each other, other than we were sitting next to each other in the back row of Mr. Varner’s math class. Somehow we became friends and still are even through the roller coaster rides. She is an amazing woman now and she is growing leaps and bounds daily. What I love the most about Summer is her courage to tell someone truth even when it hurts them. Facing the challenge even though she does not enjoy the confrontation, her honesty is much appreciated by me. I think the reason I value Summer’s bluntness is because I am the same way. I value her friendship and I am glad that I can call her friend.
Then there is Karen, all I can say is that her laugh is infectious. She can get me laughing at a moment’s notice with no warning, but then we also have our amazing chats. Of course, we have her side kick Summer along for the ride that adds a lot of enjoyment to the element too. Karen and Summer are partners in Exclaim Media and both work with Boomer’s Plus radio station. Later this month I will be a guest on this radio show along with them and I know that it will be awesome and some major laughs will be happening. What I love the most about Karen is her willingness to learn, to jump in the trenches and get dirty. I value her friendship as well.
Then there is my friend Amber. Amber and I have been friends since the eighth grade. We met in Mr. Laury’s English class and she was there for the most humiliating day. The part that made her a friend was when she told me that I should not listen to him and that he was a jerk. Mr. Laury had held up my writing assignment and told everyone in the class that I needed the bad speller’s dictionary. I used that humiliating experience to jump start me into making sure that I spell my words correctly and if I don’t know how to spell a word then I will find out, but still he could have done in a less public way. Amber and I have had our ups and downs. The amazing thing is we have not ever had a major blow out fight, but we have had disagreements. She encourages me to pursue my dream of helping others in the healing arts, psychology and children. And even though she does not always agree with what I have to say she still will listen and give me the reasons she does not agree. I do like that. Another enduring quality is that when I had my toxic relationship with Monte she had enough grace to tell me that I was “Monte’s go to girl” that I had no value to him. I was not willing to listen at that time, but I am now. She and I do not speak often, heck to think of it, I don’t speak much with Summer and Karen either, but I do know that she loves me and is a great supporter of me. What I love about Amber is that she is willing to be blunt and tell me that I am not being smart in my decisions and if I have done something wrong or that I am being delusional about things. I also like that I can do the same thing to her too.
Now for the surprise mentor, her name is Linda. I spoke about her before in my spirituality section of the values and goals list assignment I got from Timothy my therapist. Linda is much older than me and Summer introduced her to me several years ago. I believe I explained that all. Though I do not understand the depth of everything that Linda has learned, I find it gracious of her to be willing to share what she has learned and is learning. I wish that I lived in Longview so that I could hang out with Summer, Karen, and Linda more. I’ve been contemplating a move back, but some things need to be worked out. What I love about Linda is that she is that she is not arrogant and is willing to listen and offer her thoughts. I value her friendship too.
Now onto the goal portion of this post I am aiming to be a good friend.
1) Value myself, so that I am able to put boundaries up and be able to respect the boundaries of my friends.
2) Call, text, or write Summer once a week to see how she is.
3) Call, text, or write Karen once a week to see how she is.
4) Call, text, or write Amber once a week to see how she is.
5) Meet with Karen and Summer once a month for lunch or trip to have some girl time.
Simple goals I know, but that is what I am aiming.
Please wait...