Friends In Low Places

Over the weekend I had a few of my friends come out to the farm and bring the whole Kit and Caboodle with them (you know ~  husbands, the kids, the dogs, food, beer, crafts...). What a great weekend it was! I wish I had the White House sitting here on the land so I could house each one of my treasured friends and their great families. If you can dream you might as well dream BIG, right?!
   
As I sit here in my empty house with my kids and husband passed out from all the fun, I am a little lonely. I am missing the laughter, the kids screaming, all the dogs running in and out of the house, our sweet hubbies grilling out back and all the rest of the warmth that comes from having good friends. I walked through my house and hardly had anything to do because they left me with only a few sheets and some towels to wash. What precious people. I almost wish there was more to do so I wouldn't be so sad that they had to go! I am such a social butterfly and living out here in the sticks makes it hard to fill my cup with what I get from being with my friends.

Friends are my treasures. I am an only child and I guess, because of that, I treasure my friends like I would a sibling. That may not make sense to some, but it does to me.  I am so blessed with an abundance of amazing friends in my life. Each of them are unique and special. One may be so talented it oozes out of her skin. One may have a unique gift at seeing past the negative and only finding the good. One may be that mom you just wish you could be. One may be a rare treasure that makes you laugh and cry at the same time. One may just be that one that you can drive in the car with for hours and you don't  have to talk because you are OK with the silence. Each couple has such great qualities too. The husbands that we have are truly a gift from God and a rare find. Every spouse gives 100 percent of themselves to the other. Not just 50/50. We are not judgemental of one another. We mind our own business when it comes to each other's differences in how we are in our family units. Not everyone disciplines the same, not everyone is at the same place in their marriage. Some have been together since high school and some have not. We respect each other and that is that. We don't care who has what or who might be able to do more than the other this year. We don't care if some of us went one place and we didn't get to go. We just want each other to be happy, and at peace. We want each other's children to be healthy and safe and successful. We want the best for each other. If we are in low places then we are there to bring each other up. It may be with a beer and a laugh, but we get the job done. We support each other in our business endeavors and anything we set out to do that improves our lives. That is what amazing friends I have.
  
I hope when my friends leave my space they think happy thoughts of me, my husband and our children as we do of them. I hope they feel as at home in my house as they do in their own. I hope their bellies are full and their spirits are lifted after leaving here. That is how Mama Mary raised me to be. Lift others up when they are with you, make them feel at home, have a servants heart.

Friends are a gift and we have to treasure them. We have to accept the good, the bad and the ugly in each other. We have to make each other better. That is what "friend" means to me. So even though I am lonely and a bit sad this afternoon, I'll take it, because it makes me treasure the times when I get to be in their space.

I hope you have good friends. I hope you treasure them and they treasure you. They are hard to find.  When you do, hold on tight and DON'T LET GO!!!