Tonight was a totally awesome treat for me! Plans were made for dinner to have at an organic restaurant with someone I haven't seen this year or had opportunities to socialize with recently. It was AWESOME! I totally love this vivacious woman! Besides being very much alike, we also complement each other from our strengths and weaknesses. We can ask each other advice and we can give it freely without any fear of repercussion. We can be ourselves and never have to pretend a protocol or niceties, just us, being us. How wonderful and comfortable a dinner it was too! The conversation was lively as we caught up on what was going on in our day to day work lives. Then personal and, of course, wishes and dreams and hopes. Boy did we cover a lot in those 2 hours despite the raging 102 degree heat with humidity outside that was drenching us as we walked to the bus station!
Friendship is such a wonderful experience, especially when you hit it off with someone that allows you to always be yourself and never makes you feel bad about yourself. I hope everyone has someone in their life that they can have listen to the bad times and give true advice when necessary, or just to listen when you need to gripe!
My gorgeous friend is not only vivacious, she is full of life, energetic, intelligent and, surprisingly, unattached! But that is only because she is, like me, driven by her career and puts extra hours and effort into that part of her life. She is courageous and always willing to face adversity head on, something I am trying to have rub off on me more. While I'm not afraid of adversity, sometimes it can be daunting and overwhelming. She has this amazing laugh, there is no other way to put this, she is INFECTIOUS! She always makes me smile when I hear her voice on the other end of the phone, and she has an amazing way of making me feel really great about myself and my accomplishments. She has an eye for detail and a sense of fashion (she used to be a stylist) that is second to none! She is independent and I do love that about her, she wants to learn the truth by herself, but loves it when you can steer her in the right direction! She loves a challenge and cherishes her 'alone' time, just like me.
My other tremendously beautiful friend lives on the other side of the country and I've never actually "met" her face to face. However, we've been conversing via forums, text, email, phone, and recently video Skype and she probably knows me better than I sometimes know myself! She gives me clarity even though I'm stubborn and committed (not to be confused with needing to be committed)! She helps me to talk through the tough things sometimes and makes me face my demons when necessary. (Boy is that the sign of a true friend! One who isn't afraid to make you do that).
That relationship began innocently enough, but soon after "meeting" her online in a forum, I started to realize she was a lot like me and I was wondering if I had found a long lost sibling (metaphorically speaking of course). She is intelligent, well spoken, self-made woman with incredible strength and dedication to that which she is passionate about, a lot like me again. We hit it off almost immediately, and as we progressed in the relationship, I found myself not only looking forward to those daily morning texts from her, but found myself wanting to get to know more about her and her life and what makes her happy. How she found the love of her life she is with right now and why she feels he is the love of her life (he also makes her laugh and that is so important too!).
Wednesday was an awesome day because we were able to Skype free over the internet for ~2.5 hours and she took her laptop around the house and gave me a tour! How awesome is technology? I say bring it on!! The fun continued as she made me laugh repeatedly as her little doggie decided to try to mark his territory near her feet, and although she knew it was there, kept getting distracted and finally, unfortunately, stepped in it. I thought I was going to laugh so hard I'd choke! OMG! And of course, it was in the triple digits there in Arizona-land so she had to keep putting me on hold (really turning the laptop so I could watch) she would jump in the pool, cool off and then come back and we'd pick up the conversation again. I am going to meet her this fall and I surely can't wait! Even though we ended the conversation, I felt as if we hadn't even scratched the surface of what I wanted to discuss with her!
Now my other long lost friend I was lucky enough to find again was from La Canada, California, and recently moved to North Dakota. Yes, you heard me, the middle of the bible belt (and she's not Christian! LOL). What a truly remarkable woman who has stuck to her guns to get out of life what she wants and believes that she deserves. Good for her! She's made sacrifices along the way and has given up things for the various men in her life she thought were going to be there for the long haul. I applaud her commitment to her relationships and the way she really believes in what she is doing. Right now she is lucky enough to be a gal of leisure, and I hope is enjoying this for a good change of pace! We were able to touch base this month and had a 3 hour chat and only had to hang up because my battery on my phone was dying. She was missing from my life for about 10 years and I am grateful that I was able to find her again on Facebook. Despite the bad wrap having "friends" on social networking can be, when you re-connect to people that hold a special place in your heart, it is just a wonderful feeling that cannot compare to anything else! I hope you will agree!
There is another gorgeous friend (inside and out) that I have from high school (yes, a very long time ago) who I recently was able to see in person again and she looks just as beautiful as when I last saw her. I have such fond memories of us going to her father's townhouse after school and sitting in the basement talking about writing romance novels, the main characters, plots, the romance of it all. Silly teenage girl stuff that always brings a tremendous smile to my face. We had then lost touch for a while, but we reconnected when I joined a science fiction club back when I was married (yes, again, a long time ago! LOL). We would go to conventions, do costume contests, paintball (of course I don't play, I just go for the fun!) and hang out dancing at the parties from the conventions. Then I moved to California and lost touch again. I did move back, but my career took a front runner to everything else and only recently have we reconnected and were able to see each other. She is such a beautiful person inside and out, lovely in spirits, always has a great thing to say to everyone. Loves socializing with people, being a great hostess and all of that. I am very lucky she is only in Pennsylvania right over the border, not too far where we may be able to visit a little more often, that is, only if she so wishes it!
There are SO many beautiful friends in my life, both near and far, and although I don't want to leave any out, these are just a few RECENT examples of some of the contacts I have made to friends I have either just found or re-gained a relationship with through social networking, etc. Any way you slice it, they are a FABULOUS group of gals and I love them all!
I hope that I have conveyed to these amazing women, and to all my friends, just how much they mean to me. Friendship really is such a wonderful thing. I have been blessed with so many wonderful friends I would have to blog about a different one every day of the week for over a year to mention the beauty in all of them.
Let's suffice it to say that I am grateful and thankful for those in my heart. I only hope they know, each and every one, how truly special they are to me. And I hope those of you reading also have special someone's in your life that continue to make you smile when you look back on just a quick and recent visit, whether in person or from afar, it's all about the human touch, the love in your heart, the interpersonal relationships that we share that give life meaning.
Thanks for listening...
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