"The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart."~Elisabeth Foley

This weekend filled my heart to capacity. I realized how truly lucky I am to have so many awesome people in my life. I have great friends, good friends, acquaintances and friends of friends and they are all awesome. I was born and raised very close to where I live now. I still know and have reconnected with many of my bestest girls from grade school, junior high, high school and beyond. I also had many guy friends who I have also managed to keep in contact with over the years. After 15 years or more in the same circle of people it is hard to not feel like you know everyone and their brother…literally. You can recall things from grade school. You can see how far some have come and others you see how far they have to go. These are the friends that require no explanation because they know all of the players (and their history). They know if you lost the love of your life, your best friend or one or both of your parents. They are the people that you can not see for years but still sit down with them and pick up right where you left off.

I started out with an unplanned happy hour on Friday with Joanne and Brooke, some friends from high school. Joanne lives in Pennsylvania and was in town for the weekend with her husband and 2 daughters. Just the 3 of us met up at a local restaurant for a little over an hour. We don’t see each other often and most communication is done via e-mail or Facebook. Joanne and Brooke were dear friends of my friend Leigh who died in 2000. We were brought together by Leigh in high school and her death solidified our place in each other’s lives. We mostly talked about our families and got caught up. We did take a moment to recognize that this year, this month, will be 10 years without Leigh. We didn’t let it weigh us down but we could all feel the power of the moment for sure. We had very little time together but we made the most of it and it warmed my heart to be with them both again.

After drinks I met my old roommate, Sarah, for dinner at another local bar before heading over to my brother’s 30th birthday party. We had some greasy bar food and good conversation. My friend Kevin is the bartender and that is why we go so we also chatted with him as well. My cousin is a friend of Kevin’s (small world) and was also there supporting his buddy so I got to chat with him about his new baby and his mom’s recent illness. It was awesome to get a chance to talk and reconnect with them all. Sarah and I went to my brother’s party together. It was at a local entertainment venue called Demolition Ball. They serve alcohol and you can smoke so we were set. We made fun of people, mainly my brother and his friends for as long as we could handle. My friend Dawn is the manager there so we got premium service and we got to see her smiling face as well. It was good catching up with Sarah. We didn’t have the greatest parting after years of living together and being friends so it is nice to be able to get back to how things used to be.

Saturday I helped my friends Joe and Laura move. Joe set-up a great move experience complete with a truck and 8 guys to help. They were all friends and some I had not seen in a while so it was super cool. That night my friend Anna and her husband had their after Christmas holiday party. I met Anna in 2nd grade and she was one of my best friends growing up. It is an honor to know her today and see what an awesome mother, wife and all-around person she has become. I know most of Anna’s core circle of friends from attending these parties as well as weddings, baby showers, etc. It was great to see everyone again and amazing to see how much all of the kids had grown since I only see most of them once a year. My friend Gina was in attendance of the party as well. It has been almost a year since I saw her last even though we live 30 minutes from each other. After Anna’s party Gina and I went to a local bar to have a drink and catch up. Again, we also picked up right where we left off. We talked about her losing her mom to breast cancer and how it has affected her since. We discussed both of our single-girl views on relationships and monogamy. We had a fantastic time! While we were there we ran into another old pal, Meaghen. She was randomly having date night with her husband which amazed me as they have been together since we were sophomores in high school, married 9 years and have 2 kids. Kudos to them for date night! Gina and I closed down the bar and decided we were not ready to go home. We went around the corner to a 3am bar and oddly enough ran into my friend Bri and my gay boyfriend, Aaron. They were out enjoying a night a drinks and dancing together. Again, small world! I finally got home on Saturday night/Sunday morning at 3:45am. I had a fantastic time and my heart was full from all of the love and friendship.

Sunday morning my sister and I had already planned to go out to my mom’s to celebrate her birthday. My sis picked me up at 9:45am (unfortunately, not a typo). Obviously we had to stop for coffee and we were on our way for the 45 minute trip to moms. The car ride conversation was a whole lot of catching up on the week’s events. It flew by. My sister had an 11am appointment to meet a client that lives close to my mom so I called my friend Nichole, who also lives close and while my sister met with her client I had breakfast with Nichole and her husband, Danny. Nichole and Danny have also been together since high school and married 10 years. Nichole and I have always been very intertwined through mutual friends or common interests. Nichole is a strong and determined little lady just like me so I have always felt very connected to her. Danny does investigative work for his job and his vision going into school was oddly similar to mine. It was great to openly discuss my future with people who have been there, know me and want what is best for me. My talk with them helped me to finally determine my direction as far as a program for school which was super exciting. Again, not to be repetitive, we picked up just where we left off and it was amazing.

After breakfast my sister and I went to pick up a cake and something to cook for lunch for Ma’s birthday and then headed out to her house. My aunt lives next door so she came over to hang out too. My sister and I made lunch and listened to my mom list all that she had gotten for her birthday from EVERYONE and then proceed to pull it all out and show it to us. We did a lot of eating, sitting around and talking. That was about it. My mom just loves for us “to all be TOGETHER” so that is what we did. We got her some nice gifts too but being together is what it is all about for her. We stayed until around dinner time and then headed back so my sister could hang with her wife for a bit before starting the work week over.

I went home to chill after that. I was running on very little sleep so I watched some old Sex and the City episodes (my normal past time) and dozed in and out for a while. My friend Dawn called and we had a great conversation. I had been a bit worried for and about her and it was really good to catch up and make sure she was good. She is! Better than ever, I think. Ferg came home about 9 and came down while I was watching Brothers and Sisters (love that show!) and told me how happy he was to have me and wanted to make sure I am happy too. That got me to thinking about my friendship with him. We met in 1994 (or there about). He met his ex, Jen, in 1997 and they married in November of that year. I was in their wedding 12 years ago! We were tight for the first few years of their marriage and their oldest son, A, was like an extension of me for a long time. We grew apart as they started to have problems but continued to talk over the years up to and after they divorced. When they got back together about 5 years ago I reconnected with them again. Again we were off and on for a few years and then Jen and I started hanging out last summer after she left again. Ferg and I were both a little worried about how she would feel about my moving in but she was super supportive. After 15 years of friendship we are closer now than ever…all of us! Jen comes over to the house and we all hang out together like old times.

My sister has always known most of these people but from more of an outside view. She is always amazed by the tangled web we weave and how well everyone is able to get along despite the years of intertwined drama. I feel so blessed to have each and every one of these people in my life. I feel honored to have shared in their lives, experiences and heartache as well as love and friendship. I would not trade one of them or their flaws. I love the richness of our history and I look forward to the bright lights of the future for us all.

“A good friend is cheaper than therapy.” ~Author Unknown

“A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.” ~Arnold Glasow

“A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out.” ~Grace Pulpit

“True friends stab you in the front.” ~Oscar Wilde

“A friend accepts us as we are yet helps us to be what we should.” ~Author Unknown