~ "A friend is, as it were, a second self. - Cicero ~

"I do not wish to treat friendships daintily, but with the roughest courage. When they are real, they are not glass threads or frost-work, but the solidest thing we know."- Ralph Waldo Emerson

~ Friends ~

A friend is always there for you.

A friend teaches you how to be a friend.

A friend never betrays a confidence.

A friend walks right in, and sits right down, in the middle of your life, and stays forever.

A friend listens.

A friend laughs and cries with you.

A friend shares recipes.

A friend tells you when you are wrong.

A friend is happy when you succeed.

A friend makes room for you in their life.

A friend love you as your are.

***

I have been blessed with two best friends.  Both of these women have been in my life for twenty-five years.  One came to me through church, and the other through my work.  They have been with me through the good, the bad, and the ugly.  They both came as my life became a tangle of changes.  My life changed and I changed.  Parts of my life would never be the same.  My friends are still my friends.  They know the real me and still they stand with me.

I have returned the friendship I have received, and been there for my two best friends.  We have laughed and cried together.  We share common interests.  We learn from each other.

Blogging has brought me several new friends.  It is amazing to me how open some of us are to making online friends.   My blog friends figure into my life now.

I often think and speak of friends as being kindred spirits, having the same beliefs, attitudes or feelings (Websters).  I also believe we may have some, but not all, things in common.  Therefore, we learn new things from our kindreds.  We enlarge our vision for life.  Kindreds help us smooth out the rough edges in our own lives.  Kindreds walk the walk, and talk the talk of a true friend, and they are rare.  But let me encourage you, they do exist.

This being said, I am thankful and appreciate all my friends!  Blessings to each of you this day and always!

(Sorry this post is out of whack.  I worked with it until I was totally frustrated.)

"The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one." - Ralph Waldo Emerson