Friends

"My friends have made the story of my life. In a thousand ways they have turned my limitations into beautiful privilages, and enabled me to walk serene and happy in the shadow cast by my deprivation."

Helen Keller

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She is a friend to my mind. She gathers me. The pieces I am, she gathers them and gives them back to me all in the right order.

Toni Morrison

I have the most unbelievable friends. Even as I type this I am searching for words to accurately describe the friendships I have been blessed with. I have been blessed with true friends. Not friends who will just tell you what you want to hear. Friends who will tell you when you are being prideful, stubborn, or just plain wrong. Friends who show up with brownies & flowers when your husband has to work late on your birthday (again!). Friends who insist on celebrating your birthday when you just want to let it slip by. Friends who will take your children when you are in the hospital having yet another baby. Friends who you can call for guidance & direction when you just don't know how to handle a situation with the children. Friends who will laugh with you, cry with you & most importantly pray with you. To all of you, thank you. Words can not adequatly express what you mean to me, (even if you did make me wear the stupid sombrero!). May I live up to being the friend to you as you have been to me.

"The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him."

Ralph Waldo Emerson