Good Friends

I just have to say...I have really good friends in my life. Today was a great day, and I'm extremely thankful for those people in my life who call me, insist I meet up with them, ask me questions about my life, offer insight and advice, feel excited to share things from their lives, want to make time to see me, offer compliments and overall, just care.

Sometimes I'm simply blown away. I'm the kind of person who just finds it comfortable to do my own thing. I don't naturally get that people WANT to see me. I don't get that people CARE if I'm around or if they've seen me recently.

I move relationships more slowly than most. I'm often baffled by how soon someone wants to share details of their life with me. I'm taken back when I realize someone thinks we are better friends or closer than I had previously thought.

And I appreciate it. I need that.

There is often a revelation moment where I realize, hey, we're actually good friends. I had a few of those today.

This weekend I also had a few moments where I let the weakness this causes to affect me. Because I move slower than most, I don't often FEEL welcome or comfortable in new situations where I should, in all actuality, feel completely at home and a part of something. But I hold back. I resist that conformity. I purposely remove myself from where I SHOULD be. I exclude myself. I then need to rework my way in. My timing and process finds the way to do this. Sometimes I'm able to pull it off. Sometimes my cautious nature affects that situation permanently. I've seen it happen many times.

But it's through the example of friends who work through my natural instincts and basically pull me into their lives. They inspire me to do better. They inspire me to work on not worrying what I think or how I feel and instead focus on helping others the way they have helped me.

And for that I am grateful. I feel the love.

So, thanks.