Lillianna, Ty, Isabella, and James: An Early Thanksgiving...

As I have been reading some of my friends' blogs and thinking about my life lately, I found myself reflecting mostly on how grateful I am to have such wonderful friends. Never in my life have I been surrounded with such a fine group of friends--women I trust, laugh with, cry with, and share this crazy journey called motherhood with...Of course my husband is my ultimate best friend, and my mother is a VERY close second. But I now have a posse--I've waited my whole life to have a posse!! As a child, I longed for a best friend. I found myself amongst a gaggle of fair-weather girls, some were close to me, but no one who was the "it" friend. Then, in 10th grade, this girl named Jamie happened to be in my history class and my English class and we struck up a friendship...and the rest, they say, is history... Jamie wore birkenstocks, listened to the Indigo Girls and was just the coolest person I knew (still is). We would eat at La Petit Jardin after school, go to coffee bars in Sarasota at night, and sat together for every class. We became attached at the hip and began dressing alike unintentionally..then later, intentionally :). We went to FSU together and still remained friends...ha. I cannot adequately express my feelings about her, but she is through and through my best friend and I love her. Now, lest you think I forgot about all my other friends, I shall prove other wise. Little Sarah, as I love to call her, is my very oldest friend--I've known her since she was in diapers (I was already potty trained...just kidding, I'm 2 years older). Sarah and I have remained close and I LOVE the fact that we have kids around the same age and we live in the same town. Where I am the free spirit type B, Sarah is the type A--but we've met in the middle our whole lives. Sarah was the one I fell apart in front of after my ultrasound with Ty--she had a good cry with me and said the things only a friend of so long could say...I am so blessed to call her my friend. Then there's Melissa--or MK as she has been known around my peeps for about 10 years. I met her at camp when we were counselors in college and our relationship with Christ cemented our friendship. The we were roommates and survived...not always easy...but I don't think anyone understands me quite the way she does--and she has put up with a lot of interesting stuff from me, including the million questions regarding my health. Half of my wardrobe now resides in Houston with Melissa so even though I'm not there, my clothes can be with her...she is that friend who you call at 3 a.m. with a question and she tells you she was awake already :) When we moved back to Gainesville, we plugged back into our church from college and enrolled in Financial Peace University and this girl was in there--very intimidating...just kidding :) I was pregnant and having some issues and asked her about them and she told me that those same issues led to a miscarriage for her--so naturally we became best friends on the spot! I love to tease Amy because she always feels bad about that but that initial conversation revealed Amy's honesty that I would come to love in our friendship. We are definitely two peas in a pod--headstrong, intimidating (to others :)), visonaries (although Amy is the closer...) and we have leaned on each other for support for all sorts of events in our lives. Amy is loyal and has become one of my closest friends ever. And then there's Lisa, who could very well be the older sister I never had. We were destined to be friends...our husbands work together, we live in the same neighborhood, our kids have gone to the same school and had music class together--we also have the same furniture and dishes and share many of the same philosophies about life. Our families gravitate towards one another and we share many mid-week dinners with them--they are the closest thing we have to family in town. Lisa is a wise woman who speaks like 15 languages and has read more books than I could think of reading--she is my go to girl for movie suggestions, events around town, how to coupon or save money on ANYTHING, how to cook various common things that have somehow escaped me...
I look at all these girls and the influence they have had on my life and I am truly blessed and thankful. I also think of the MANY other friends in my life who are so dear to me and we are mutually invested in each other's lives--my moms' group (Karen, Karin, Stacy, Julie, Sira, Lisa M, Kara, Sarah S, Michelle P, Francesca, Kelly C, Wendy, Kristal, Stephanie, Deanne, Hope...), for example...I could write plenty about all of those girls as well...see what I mean when I say I have a posse? Never in my life did I imagine I would have so many wonderful friends--gets me kind of teary thinking about it because I am so grateful...and it seems like each day I grow closer to some of my new friends--we have coffee, e-mail, chat on the phone, have playdates, pray for one another...My friends are all so beautiful--with beautiful hearts and minds and outward beauty too. I just thank God everyday for my friends, my incredible husband and family.