Friends and Flowers

Flowers and friends.

Two things that bring joy to my life. Last week for my birthday, my friend Jessica showed up on my doorstep with an absolutely beautiful bouquet of red and purple flowers. To be honest, I don't know what kind of flowers they are, but they are very pretty and very long. Very long. When she handed them to me I had to hold them diagonally across my chest lest my face be covered by them as I thanked her.

I felt like Miss America.

For the last week and a half they have sat in my entry way as a bright welcoming beacon for anyone who chances to stop by. And a welcome home to the four of us when we step in the door. I can't speak for the rest of the family, but the flowers make me happy every time I see them.

I do love flowers and I do LOVE having fresh flowers in my home (are you reading this honey?), but it is more the gesture behind them. I am so blessed with the friends I have in my life.

Jessica and I have been friends since we were ten years old (We actually met when we were nine, but we don't count the fourth grade...long story that involves big purple glasses and her hiding behind a portable rather then walking home with me). Through our pre-teen and teenage years we whispered secrets, played sports, speculated on what was going on in the minds of those intriguing BOYS, made phone calls to these boys (always with both of us on the line), had sleepovers, talked for hours, and called each other constantly even though we only lived five houses down. High school took us our own ways for a while, but we were still always connected.

In the years that have followed high school, life has taken us many different places but we have always stayed in touch. When I got married, she threw me a bridal shower and her and Sarah (another wonderful friend) came over and helped me with my make up the day of my wedding. She cried on the phone when I called her just hours after Little Man was born. We can go weeks without talking, but when we get together it's as if no time as passed.

My life has been so enriched by the friends who have come into it. Like Jessica, there are many others who have been part of my life for many years (I mean one of my six year old party guests is now my sister in law!) If friends were represented different colors in a quilt of my life you would see the same colors repeated again and again. There may be patches overwhelmed by certain colors, like the eight straight months I spent living with my freshman year roommates who became some of my best friends, or my high school years that were spent with my fellow "princess in blue" Tina, but even after that time in my life passes, the colors stay. Maybe not as dominating as they were at one point, but still there. And then there are the friends who I have not known as long, but who have still added so much to my life.

Many of you reading this are friends from elementary school, junior high, high school, Young Women's, college, or my mommy friends as I call them who help and support me as we try to figure out how to raise our young children. Thank you to all of you. I don't know why I have blessed to have such amazing friends, from those who I have known I was in first grade to those who I met in the past couple years, but I am thankful for them.

Sorry for the sentimental, sappy post. Maybe it had something to do with the grey sky outside contrasting with the bright flowers the same way that friends brighten my life. I don't know. I do know that I appreciate all of you (and all of my friends that don't read this) more then I could ever really express. So, thanks!

Friends, flowers, Friday

A great combination. Have a wonderful weekend!