My take on friends.

I've been thinking a lot about friendship...old friends, new friends, life-long friends...and I'm amazed at how many of all of these I have. I'm lucky...I've met some really wonderful people during my 43 years and I'm happy to say that I've been fortunate enough to call most of them "friend". I love knowing that I can just pick up the phone at 3:00 a.m. and know matter what...there is a list of people that I could call and they would be there within an hour or two. And...I'd (we'd) do the same for them. My mom still has friends that she hangs with from when she was in 1st grade and she's 82! She goes to lunch once every few months with her life-long friends when they can drive themselves to meet! I think that is incredible. Little old ladies who have spunk and have been friends since elementary school still meeting for lunch at an area restaurant just so they can keep in touch and keep their friendships current. I love that. As I send out Christmas cards this year...I keep thinking that so many of these people have really had an influence over my life...some have been teachers, some are classmates, some are college buds, some are people that I have taught with and some are my students from my early years of teaching. Whatever the category, I want to thank all of you for being my friends. Merry Christmas!