The Blessings of Friendship

The better part of one's life consists of his friendships. ~Abraham Lincoln

Good morning, Friends! Did you ever have a week that went completely off course? This past week didn’t at all turn out like I thought it would. The only time I was actually where I expected to be was during one of my two Qigong classes. I missed the first one. I also missed the first class of a program I’d signed up for at the Y. I also missed self-set deadlines for having three of my projects completed. I forgot, then almost forgot again, to make a phone call regarding my son’s glasses. I didn’t write to Louis all week. When I spoke with him yesterday, I said this is the longest I’ve ever gone without writing to you—(nine days now, and with the holiday, ten.) My Christmas cards still aren’t all sent out, the decorations are still up, and the house needs a thorough cleaning, top to bottom.

So what have I been doing? Well, I had my week perfectly planned, practically down to the minute, with a list of events to attend and projects to get done. Manuscripts edited, Christmas cards finished, house cleaned and such. Monday morning Louis calls at 8:00 and says the weather is good and I asked around and the roads are clear, you coming up? And that was that. I checked the weather forecast and was gone, since a heavy snowstorm was due to blow in on Tuesday.

Since I don’t usually cook dinner on the days I go to see Louis, my son and I had planned to go out to eat between the time I got home and my faith sharing meeting. On the way home, around 3:30, the phone rings. It’s a friend, and she’s found a car for my son. We need to meet to talk about it. I say we’ll be at the restaurant at 4:45, does she want to join us? She does. I call my son and say be ready, I’m just stopping by to pick you up. I get home at 4:40 and off we go. Dinner hits the spot and I’m home for ten minutes before I leave again for my meeting. Which means I’m away from the house for over twelve hours on Monday. I’m also exhausted, and actually fall asleep during the meeting :(.

Tuesday morning my friend calls, asks shall we do this?--and we go off to test drive a car. We get there at 10:00 and return the car at 4:00. We take it to my mechanics for a look-see, and go to lunch while they kindly fit us in. We take the car to a car wash and emerge with soap on one side of the car, where the gentleman there kindly lets us go through again. We text my son, something I rarely do, and ask if we can pick him up after school so he can see the car. He furtively texts back “k” and we stop by the school. We then take the car to another friend, who comes out into the cold to thoroughly look it over, and gives his seal of approval.

We take it back to the owner, driving headlong into the aforementioned snow storm as it blows into town, and barely manage to drop it off, collect my car, drop my son off at a friend’s and get back home before the snow starts to blow in earnest. Since the roads are so slippery, I cancel the Dinner for One event I have organized for my church group, much to the relief of those who’d planned to attend. Instead I spend the evening doing research on cars until I can no longer see straight. Another prayer is answered when my son’s friend’s father drops him off, instead of me having to go and get him.

Wednesday I manage to get a PMDD post written, but not much here, as I am on the phone all day with car negotiations, the insurance company--and then my mother calls. We usually talk for at least an hour whenever she calls. All told, I spent at least four hours on the phone. Wednesday night it’s storming again, so I opt out of my church group meeting, which in the end is cancelled as well. Instead, I spend the evening doing research for a series of blog posts I plan to write at the PMDD site. Thursday morning I make it to Qigong class, then get invited out for breakfast, and spend the afternoon running around dealing with paperwork for the car and shopping for groceries before the next storm hits.

Friday it’s snowing again, so I finally manage to stay home get some work done, although it isn’t the work I had planned for the week. Something new came up that needed to be addressed right away, and so I was busy sending out a flurry of emails. Saturday, it’s still snowing, so I spent 12 hours on the computer, trying to catch up. And now it’s Sunday--supposedly my day of rest :).

But even though the week didn’t go the way I thought it would, it’s all good. Better than good, actually. It seems God knew better that I did how I should spend my week, and so I spent most of it in His loving care, through the many friends He has blessed me with.

And so I thought today I’d do another post on gratitude, and list the things I am especially grateful for this week.

Actually, the schedule-skewing started last Friday, when my trip to see Louis was canceled due to bad weather. Then, on Friday night, I made an impromptu decision to go out to dinner. I called my car-shopping friend, and she and I and my son met at the restaurant. Saturday another friend called, and we made unexpected arrangements to go to Mass and a church program on prayer on Sunday morning, then ended up going out to breakfast afterward to talk about future travel plans--since we suddenly discovered we both want to go to Alaska, and have been wanting to go there for years.

Monday night it was out to dinner again, Tuesday it was out to lunch, and Thursday it was out to breakfast again. So I unexpectedly ate out five times in one week. And each time, it was with friends.

Therefore, I am grateful for:

Friends who look out for me, weather-wise, and are willing to spend hours just visiting.
Friends who are willing to drive when the weather is bad.
Friends who call and suggest going to programs and places I might enjoy.
Friends to go out to eat with.
Friends who take note of good deals and information on things I’m interested in buying/doing/writing about and either send links or save clippings for me.
Friends who call to gently remind me about things I need to do.
Friends who are willing to go traveling with me.
Friends who are willing to spend their day joy riding with me.
Friends who know about cars and other mechanical things, and are willing to check them over for me.
Friends who respond to emails asking for help—you know who you are.
Friends who don’t mind when I don’t have time to write, or when my Christmas cards arrive late.
And Friends who don’t mind when I fall asleep sitting upright on their couch.

Friends…In a time when there is so much going on in the world that brings such tragedy and sorrow to so many, I am truly blessed to know each and every one of you.