What friendship means to me

Even though the daffodil has come to represent cancer awareness,
any yellow-colored flower symbolizes friendship.
These are the only flowers blooming in my yard right now.

The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense. Proverbs 27:9

New Living Translation

Sometimes, when I’m sitting around the house, in my own little anti-social world, I feel like I don’t have a lot of friends. But you know, true friends don’t have to be there every day, day in and day out. True friends are the ones who are there when you need them the most.

When my sister died, our mutual friend Phyllis jumped in the car and drove 250 miles from Minnesota even though she had been here the week before. As soon as she got here, she asked what she could do. “Sounds dumb,” I said, “but can you run to K-Mart and buy my husband some dress socks?” What a simple thing, but it really helped out.

Then I have some friends that I worked with 12 years ago. We only get together once or twice a year now, but that bond is still there so that it feels like we have never been apart.

Lastly there are the friends I saw this past Friday night. They are all medical assistants from around the state that I see two or three times a year. I’ve known many of them for 20 years and even though we communicate by e-mail or Facebook in between state meetings, we have been through all the highs and lows together.

Friday night as we were going around the circle sharing what has happened to us in the last year, I was blessed to be able to share the good fortune that my family has had this year – new jobs for my husband, my son and my daughter. I thought that was enough. But Denise chimed in, “What about your writing?”

Denise has been one of my most faithful blog followers. She’ll never know how much I appreciate her support – well maybe she’ll know now when she reads this. She is one of those friends every struggling writer needs. As many of our friends are, she is a true gift.

(And have I told you about last year’s medical assistant convention, when Denise, Nancy and I got up at four am to watch the royal wedding? Only a true friend would get me to put on a tiara at that time of day.)