Fun Monday - Friendship

Mariposa is resurrecting Fun Monday - and has come up with a month's worth of topics! Ya'll put on your thinking caps so we can have topics past August! This week's topic is friendship.

Friendship is an interesting topic for a semi-hermit like me. I have a lot of acquaintances but very few friends. My personal definition of a friend is someone who will come to your rescue, no matter the circumstance. They care enough about you to drop everything they are doing and come hold your hand when you need it. I have four of those. For years, I only had three, but have recently added a fourth.

Stephanie has been my friend since we were little girls and she was staying with her grandmother in the summers two doors from me. We were in each others' first weddings. Like family, we've had falling outs and reconciliations. We are as different and alike as can be. She lives in Alabama, I'm in Florida - so while we are not physically close, we support each other through email and phone calls. She's facing some really hard stuff right now with a son undergoing cancer treatment, but she is the strongest person I know. She will keep on keeping on and part of the reason she can do that is because she knows I have her emotional back. And when I'm in dire straits, she does the same for me.

Liane is a part of my family. Her grandmother married my grandfather and we added a whole new branch to the family tree. Lucky me, I also got a lifelong friend. We spent the night at each other's houses as children, hung out together as teens, planned to be roomates as adults. The roomate part didn't pan out but we've remained friends everyday of our lives. I imagine that friendship will continue until we die.

Kelly is a fairly recent addition (20 years ago). We were roomates, we work in the same building. She is loud and friendly and outgoing and I think I was drawn to her because I wanted to BE her. It didn't take long for me to figure out that I couldn't do that, but I've admired her gutsiness and ability to handle things for so long... We are pretty opposite in personality. But we stuck together. Our kids are friends. My son wanted to marry her daughter for the first four years of his life, then decided she was too bossy. We won't ever be related, but we'll always be friends.

Jennifer is a recent addition. She blew into work about 6 years ago and changed a lot of things with her ebullent personality. Jennifer turned out to be my birthday twin (same birthday!) and we've been "sisters" ever since. We talk a lot, about just about everything. There are days when one or the other of us needs serious propping up and the other person is there to do it. She doesn't work with me anymore, but we try to have lunch often and see each other when we can.

Reading back over this, I realize that mere words can't even begin to describe how deeply I feel about these four friends. They are all very different people but I love them all and feel that they will be a part of my life for as long as it lasts.