I was sitting at my desk numbly staring at my computer screen trying to break my way through the hump I was in when Wade came in and dumped the mail onto my desk.
Sticking out in the middle of the mundane pile of bills and catalogs was a small blue envelope addressed to me. My heart fluttered as it always does when something special comes in the mail. With the convenience of email, letters have become passe and it is rare that somebody reaches out to me by mail. I opened it immediately.
I read the words on the card and as my eyes filled with tears of wonder at how my friend Gretchen could capture me so completely a smile spread across my face and my storm began to pass. The card was of a girl playing on her bicycle, sending her cares to the wind and it read, “I am fairly certain that given a Cape and a nice tiara, I could save the world.”
Friends are like that, surprising you when you least expect it, quoting something you said years ago that made them laugh or delivering to you a small silver platter with a sweet little silver salt shaker, hard boiled eggs and your favorite cherry tomatoes while on a river trip, as Gretchen did to me. “These are for you, my little Princess”, she said handing me the platter, once again filling my heart with love and kindness.
I would be nothing without my friends who keep me grounded reminding me to look for the small ingredients in life to make my life richer.
Friendship had a different meaning before I had my family. My friends were my family and my expectations and demands were higher. But the friends that I had before I got married are all still with me and the beauty lies within the relationships that have formed between our children and our husbands.
Like a marriage, as our friendships mature we learn to accept and even appreciate our idiosyncratic ways instead of allowing them to drive us insane. When I called my friend Suzanne to tell her that I might be just a little late to pick up her son she asked, “Is this going to be standard Jillian late or later?” The phrase, “To know me is to love me” never held so true.
As we get closer to the holidays my friends have been emerging from their busy schedules to shine their little lights on me and show me their love and I am filled with appreciation. They remind me that life is filled with treasures and all one has to do is slow down a little to find and appreciate them. I also am grateful for my online friends who pack a world of insight into every comment that they make on my posts.
And so I end this little love fest by thanking you, my friends, my family and my readers, for being you and for lifting me up to greater heights as I live my life. You fill me with warmth and happiness and I love you all.
Love you, see you, mean it!
MICHELE
MELANIE
GRETCHEN
STEPH
PATTY AND JEN
PAM
SHELLY
CATHY
and Tori, Liz and Mary, Suzanne, Karen, Jody, Marilyn, Birgit and Neil, Adair, Tucker, Peter, Karl, Poopsie, Lauren, Beth, Elizabeth, Dede, Stars, Kir, Lisa, Seana, Deborah and so many more. I wish I had photos of all of you to share.
Love you all!!!
Thank you!!!! Way to make a girl cry so early in the morning! Having same sentiments of late about my circle of sisters and family – real ones and my adopted soulmates. What a lovely tribute. And, did I see Karen Rubin in there? Send her a big hello from me!
Lovely! I call my friends my circle of love! I can see your circle is full of shining stars! What a treasure indeed!
Jilly
I love this post 
what a wonderful way to start the day 
thank you, and big big hugs xoxox 
Great post and every single one of your friends is gorgeous!!
Hey Jill,
This put the biggest smile on my face!!!
once again you have brightened my day!
xoxomegan
Love you more, miss you more, mean it…more!
giggle giggle!
What a wonderful collage of your friends. Wow. This makes me want to post photos of mine….
I love sending snail mail. LOVE IT. The last blogger that was bemoaning the lack of snail mail love became my pen pal.
I reached and said, ‘we don’t know each other and this might sound weird…but let’s share some mail love.’
Happy Monday to you and all your friend blessings.
Yes, friends are our real treasures.
You truly are blessed! And I completely agree. Friends are some of our greatest blessings–our greatest treasures. Wonderful post.
Once again your thoughts that you are so gracefully able to put down in words has sent chills through me and happy tears to my eyes. Happy Holidays to you and your pose’ of boys. Peace to you- Kristi
aww what a great post. i wish i still had all my friends.
This was great, Jillian. I loved the writing and thought it would end there and then you hit me with all the photos. There’s such a sense of love and expansiveness that comes from this, and I imagine you are quite a friend yourself in order to have such a beautiful circle of friends. You also reminded me that I need more friends in my life right now. I’ve gotten a little too reclusive lately. Thanks.
This is so true. I call my friends “My Rainbow”, we are all so different & in our differences, we complete each other.
Beautiful post! It touched my heart and made me want to call my best friend right away to send her some love.
I too have been fortunate with great friends who have weathered a great deal with me since we were yay high. I feel very lucky to have them in my life. Reminds me of a quote I have used in the past: “True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends, but in their worth and choice.”
I lament that my circle of friends is not larger. And that the best friends I have live so far away. But I feel fortunate, nonetheless, to have women to connect with. Women who know me through and through. Women who ground me, hold me up, make me stronger, share their love and time with me.
I crave connections in my life and it’s ironic that I feel I have too few in my tangible world. But in this online world, full of hope and light and reflection, is a wonderful addition to my soul. I know that as my children grow older, and the demands of my motherhood role shift, I will be able to embark on making even more connections in my real life. I look forward to that.
And for now I am grateful.
I hear you.
It is a gift to share our lives with others so fully.
Hello Vivianne,
What I love the most about this post is that it is compelling others to reach out to their friends and what could be better then that?
I also find your quote very moving. Truly we don’t need to spread ourselves thin but put as much as we can into the few friends we have.
Thank you Patty for your kindness and undying wisdom!! I’m so glad to be in communication with you.
Hello Jenny,
I too have lost some precious friends throughout the years but I am trying my best to hold on to the ones I have.
Hello my love-
I, as your friend am thanking YOU for being such a wonderful and inspring friend. I have read all your blog posts and am so impressed at how you are pushing past tough times and lifting other’s spirits in the process.
You are an amazing mother, wife, sister, daughter and for sure FRIEND….and for that I am so grateful that I can list as you as one of mine!
Love to you always…
LPM
Jill, how beautiful was this post?
You are pure magic in the love appreciation arena!
Now thank you for reminding me that it is high time to make a random deposit in the Recently-Out-of-touch-Friends-Network.
(-: Melyssa
[...] reading my post titled, What Would We Do Without Our Friends, my good friend Shelly reminded me of one of my double whammy [...]
you inspired me!
on my to do list for tomorrow i wrote:
1. be a good friend
Hey Lisa,
Glad to provide you with that inspiration. It’s good to share the love!!
Thanks so much for the link to this post on my blog. I really like your writing, and I relate very much to this post.
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Beautiful tribute to your friends, and to the beauty of women.
Wonderful.
.-= Alexandra´s last blog ..Oh, Did I Need This =-.
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