Friends

I have a friend who is becoming less and less social.  She feels happy and content at home, and dreams about having a backwoods-type lifestyle.  I love her.  She is inspiring and fun to be around.  We have a lot of the same interests.  I feel thankful that though she doesn't feel like she needs a lot of friends, she chooses to spend time with me.  That makes me feel really special!

I need friends.  It is something that I feel like I lacked growing up.  I always dreamed of having a "best friend".  I was too far apart in age and interest from my closest siblings to be really close to them growing up.  We have a lot of fun memories, but not the emotional connection that I craved.  Same with the friends in my neighborhood.  I had some interesting friends during my teen years.  Some wonderful, others not so.  I tried on a lot of different images, trying to fit in, etc.  My senior year, I found some really excellent friends that are of the lifelong caliber.  People I didn't have to pretend with.  When Nathan was a baby, and I was so lonely, I got invited to a playgroup.  It was the highlight of my week!  It provided something so essential to my well being.  Since then, I have tried very hard to seek out friends and be a friend to those who seem to need one.  I have developed deep relationships with people I never expected to.  It is thrilling for me to meet new people and spend time with them.

I was reminded again this week of how much I need the support of friends. 

I had a lovely conversation about home birth with a friend in my new ward.  It was enthralling.  I can't wait to get to know her better.  I came home feeling so full and happy.

I spent an afternoon picking and drying peaches with my friend while our children played together like cousins.  I felt special because I knew she was concerned that I was getting good pickin's.

I have a friend way over in Missouri, whom I have never met.  Her sister introduced me to her blog, and it is a highlight of my days.  She had a bad day this week.  So did I .  The very same kind of bad day that only a home schooling mother of 6 could fully understand.  I understood because I had that very same kind of bad day this week.  I felt comfort knowing that she understood.

On Friday, I dropped my kids off at the charter school for their home school Options day.  Then I took my two little ones to the home school park day.  I got to visit with friends I haven't seen for awhile.  We talked about home schooling, and I needed that support oh, so very much!  I felt like I was at a feast!

On Saturday, I spent the morning and afternoon working with my best friend on our house.  I felt so much joy to have him by my side.  I felt so loved when he stopped what he was working on to hammer tacks into the frilly curtain I was trying to attach to a stool in my girls' room.

That night was a big event.  It was the grand unveiling of our house to some friends in our ward.  They have been our family since we moved to Utah.  They were there when we moved in and there were not many young families in the ward.  Through serving in Primary together, we discovered how well our 4 families get along.  We've had couples-only dates, an annual progressive dinner, family hikes and camping trips, and late-nights where the adults play games and the kids just play.  We wanted the house to be just-right for them!  The night could not have been better.  We all fell asleep feeling exhausted, but completely grateful and satisfied.

I spent some time tonight talking with Dallin about our recent Stake Conference.  Elder Holland talked about filling our reservoirs so we have something to keep us going when things get tough.  I was feeling a little frustrated about not having time to fill my reservoirs.  I was thinking about how little time I have to study, go to the temple, or even ponder.  I was a little mad that my reservoirs seem pretty dry, and I don't know how to fill them.  How silly I was, to not recognize what fills my reservoirs.

It is friends. 

Thank you for filling me up!