(*Be-lated) Nov. 8th - "I'm Thankful for:"

    My friends.
    On Nov. 5th, I had posted, "The fact that friendships are not regulated or restricted by things such as the following examples." I then went on to give examples of "trivial matters" that "I am just thankful friendships do not necessarily have to be regulated or restricted by."
    Today I am writing about people whom have chosen to be my friend. They have chosen to not let those "trivial matters" dictate whether they can/should or can/should not be my friend.
    That one part never ceases to amaze me. What part? "They have chosen to be my friend". WOW!
    It's not that they are somehow a relative of mine and therefore, according to and because of, they are 'suppose' to "like" me (or at the least, tolerate me in a polite manner o;-p). Nor are they necessarily co-workers, whom are just nice to me due to not wanting an overly stressed working environment. 'Friends' are people whom have chosen to like me just because they do. Because they want to. WOW!!! Mind boggling. Thrilling! What a blessing they have been to me!!!
    Many, many, many examples of such come to mind. I am only going to list a few. Dear friends, if I do not list one that pertains to you, PLEASE do not think less of me for it! I mean seriously, I truly think I could write a book to rival the length of 'War and Peace'  by listing examples of how I have been blessed by people whom have chosen to call me 'friend' over the years!!!
    Examples of how I have been blessed by 'friends':
   ~ the night after Brent had been hit by a car, and we were actually able to bring him home from the hospital. A friend had called a local pizza place and had them deliver pizza to us for our dinner. This mom didn't have to do a thing to feed them that night. NICE!!!
   ~ when I had had really bad phenomena, which we later learned was actually my high allergies changing into allergy triggered asthma, and a friend voluntarily drove our two youngest sons back and forth to their Jr. soccer league practices. I couldn't have. What a help the friend was!!! And then a different friend did the same during high school soccer, when I had a different health issue. :-D
   ~ the friend, that for her birthday, chose to take me shopping and out to lunch as her gift from her husband. She not only chose to spend time with me, and take me mission store shopping, but they also paid for my purchases that day! The net gate I picked up that day, has come in really handy with a toddler grand daughter!!! And I have frequently used the roasting pan I nabbed at one of the stores that day! ;-) Besides just having spent time with the friend, which was WONDERFUL!!!
   ~ "therapy times" with friends. "Therapy times" are always such a blessing!
   ~ The times that while they don't 'get it', they never the less allow us the honor of doing the food for some function they have going on in their lives. They don't 'get' how we can enjoy it to the extent that we do, but they have allowed us the privilege of doing so.
   ~ for sev-er-al years, we received "anonymous" gift packages at Christmas time. There were always ever-so-appropriate gifts with in, for every birth member of our family. What fun!
   ~ the package of daily open envelopes, which contained little trinkets and heart warming / encouraging notes for my husband, after a very trying situation in his life.
   ~ when I could call and say "talk sweet to me" and they (the callee) knew that meant that I had reached the extreme of my limits. That was their clue to NOT talk about my husband (whom I KNEW was always gone due to working, trying to support us, not just out 'hanging' with his friends or something. But sometimes his always not being home was hard to handle.), or my sons (whom I KNEW were very active young boys, and had good hearts, and ... but sometimes I was just so darn tired of trying to keep up with them!), or money (I KNEW that Brian was working every minute he possibly could and as hard as he could, to support us. It was not his fault we lived just below the poverty line. It was just the way our life went. But sometimes... accepting that ... .) I was at the point of breaking, and they were my 'life lines' so to speak. Oh how much they helped!!!!!
   ~ after our house fire, when we spent many Saturday's here working on our house, and they left us a key to their house since they weren't going to be home, so we could still use their bathroom. While the boys didn't mind going between the garages .... this mom did! And the nearby gas station was not as close as the neighbors bathroom was!
  ~ The loan of their cottage(s), so that Brian and I could escape together for a bit. How reinvigorating those times have been for us!
  ~ driving me to an appointment, or the store, or some event, because due to having Vertigo, I can not drive myself.
  ~ the bags of clothes for our boys when they were young. They were often dressed in the then current designer labels, and we hadn't spent a cent.
  ~ the ones who answered our requests for help and showed up and aided in fixing our garage, and/or porch, and/or house because we needed to to qualify for the house or to appease the city inspector.
  ~ all of the times we have been allowed to borrow vehicles, due to ours being down for what-ever-reason that time.

   I am ever so glad that I have friends!!! You have chosen to like me. WOW! I am so-o-o-o thankful!!!


[Yes, this is very *belated. Go HERE if you want to know why.]

The 2010 "I'm Thankful for: " Challenge   - if you don't know what this is, follow the lead on our side bar.