Being a friend

 You know everyone who comes into your life affects some of your thinking and actions and shapes the kind of person you become.
 As I was growing up, I never put much thought into having friends or being a good friend.  I had two sisters and a brother.  Why did I need friends or 'playmates?
 Being a shy kid, it was taxing enough to have to interact with classmates in elementary school and Sunday school.  Plus my parents were both teachers, and it was kind of a given that teachers' kids hung together. During those early times my friendships were kind of automatic--not any connection that I felt I really needed.
 Being a good friend and having the company of a soul sister was not on my list of what I wanted to be or have.
 Until...after I was married, I realized that marriage is not the answer to lonliness, fulfillment, or self-worth.  Then I began to have to look outside my tight circle of myself and family.  I did need companionship!
 Lucky for me--once I  had this realization, I found that there were already people around waiting and wanting to be my friend.  I just had to open the door to my heart and wave them in.
 Once when I was wary of a job change, a wise and wonderful friend told me that each new job or situation was a chance to make a new friend. HA! Easy for him to say..He seems to never meet a stranger.
 But with that seed of wisdom, possibilities presented themselves, and I have been blessed with several special friends.  Each one has colored my world according to their uniqueness and my need.  I can only hope that I have added as much to their lives as they have to mine.
 Thank you God that I am having more days to learn that the wannabes of my youth are only an outline of the Great Plan that you have for me.  If we leaving the driving to you, our options are LIMITLESS.