Life Lesson #15,001

Since I have been alive for more than 15,000 days and "they" say that you learn something new every day, I'm starting my blog at 15,001.  My Life Lesson for today is this:  It is just as important to be a good friend as it is for your friends to be good friends to you.  If you are like me you have hundreds of "Friends" on Facebook.  You may be feeling pretty good about yourself with all of those "Friends".  If you are like me, you have had something sad, happy or exciting happen to you in the past year.  Think about how many of those "Friends" were there to cry with you, laugh with you, cheer with you, cook dinner for you, keep children for you or even just offer to do something for you.  If your answer is all 899 of your "Friends" then I want to know your secret. If you said maybe 3 of your 899 "Friends", you are probably normal.  Now think about how many of those 899 "Friends" have you done things for in the past year?  Again, if you said 3, you are probably normal. Now, why is that?  By definition a "Friend" is a person whom one knows, likes and trusts. A "Friend" is also someone who supports and holds mutual affection for the other person. The simple truth is that most of us really only have less than 10 good friends.

Last summer my stepmother was dying with lung cancer.  Several of my "good friends" kept my son or made dinner for my family while I was out of town.  One of my friends even came and picked up my laundry.  Now that is being a friend!!  I have had a chance to reciprocate for most every person who was there for me last year.  I hope that I was as good of a friend to them as they were to me.  It is important to be a good friend even when our friends disappoint us.  I was actually shocked and amazed by many of my "friends" last year. Some who I was sure would be there for me didn't even send a text to say that they were very sorry for my loss.  Some who I was sure would send me a text, actually came to my stepmother's funeral.  Her funeral was 40 minutes away from where we live. I will just take you back to that day for a minute.  I am sitting with my family and I look over to my left side and all of my girlfriends are taking up the first 2 rows of the church pews.  Some of them took the day off of work.  Some of them came home early from vacation.  To know that I had 2 full rows of friends there for me meant more to me than any of them will ever know. I have always said that if you want to know who your true friends are, #1 Have a baby. #2 Get sick. #3 Have a loved one die. 

Let's don't wait for events to happen in our "friends" lives.  Let's be good friends to each other even when we don't "need" each other.  You never know how much it will mean to someone just to get that affirmation of your friendship.  Don't wait until something bad happens to be a friend.