November 13.....Good friends.

So, I've rewritten this at least three times.  I started out writing about my current BFF's aka The Sisterwives.  But, really I've been blessed my entire life with great friends.

I was fortunate enough to spend all my school years in the same house, so I had friends that went with me through all my years of grade school, middle school and high school.  Some of them, I'm still in touch with now, a few have been friends so long that I can't remember when I didn't know them.  I was lucky to have exceptional friends in high school,  all of them good kids from good families.  I survived all the "temptations" of the 70's because my friends weren't into any of that either, so I was never seriously tempted.  For that I'm grateful.  I still did some stupid stuff, after all I was a teenager, but nothing with far-reaching consequences.  I'm grateful for that.

Some of them were not only fun to hang out with, but were great examples of who and what I really wanted to be.  One, especially comes to mind.  His name was Mike and was one of those that I've known forever.  He was fun, a little nuts, but had an amazing grasp of the gospel and what was truly important in life, even at a young age.  He was the guy jogging around the car opening all the doors for the girls, the one who made sure everyone got a chance to dance, the one who challenged me to read the Book of Mormon for the first time, took me on my first date when I turned sixteen, brought me treats when I was laid up one summer with stupid knees, pushed me to all my classes when I started my sophomore year in a wheelchair, and had the good sense to marry one of my good friends, who is equally awesome.  I don't get to see them very often, but they are still some of my favorite people.

(I used this pic of Mike, because anything else I have would have to be scanned.  I stole this from his FB page)

I moved to Utah when I was 25 for about ten years.  Say what you will about Utah, I made more great friends there.  Some were roommates, some were neighbors, but I always felt that I had "backup" no matter what went wrong.  Fixing my car, taking care of me after surgery, making me laugh after I lost my job, helping me pass calculus, etc.  I missed my family in Arizona, but had a pretty amazing "family" there.  Facebook is an amazing tool for keeping in touch with all of those great friends, because we are all over the map now.

Here in California, I have too many friends to count.  Both in San Jose, where we first lived, and down here in Monterey.  We love our church family, so many great people.  We have a lot of military people in our congregation, so people come and go.  So now, we have great friends all over the world.  

But, today, I don't know what I'd do without my "Sisterwives".  They can make me laugh no matter the circumstance, they volunteer their husbands to help with big projects, put up with my Meg when we wanna leave town, talk me into strange things like dying my hair red.  They are my "California Family".  Their kids are Meg's extra siblings, which has been good for her.  She needed siblings closer to her age and younger.  The kids really act like siblings, they fight, they make up, and if anyone tried to do anything to any of them, they would have a dozen crazies to deal with.  We joke about the Sisterwives, but we really have each other's back, and that's nice to know.  And a huge blessing, for which I am grateful.

(Oddly enough, no pics of all of us together...Need to talk to Sam about that)

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