Friends: The Ones Who Matter. The Ones Who are Always There

I have had a lot of friends over the course of my lifetime. Like most people, the ones who have been my best friends have remained in my life throughout the years.

They know who they are.

Yes, those are some of them in this photo with me.

I have been friends - best friends - with these women since long before anyone called any one of us "Mom," long before divorces, second and third children, grandbabies, and a lot of other very adult things that lots of people go through.

These are my girls.

There are more than just these ones (and yes, those ones NOT in this photo ALSO know who they each are). The ones not shown here are aware that I would post every single photo I have of them, with them if I could.

I am crazy about my pals (especially these ones in the photo), all of them. I am crazy about them because they are crazy like me. I speak for all of us when I state that none of us would have it any other way.

I write about things that are common to us all, and lately it has all been mostly reminders of what we are all and collectively going through at this time, even though those things we are all feeling are probably different.

It doesnʻt matter - we are all in this garbage of pandemic and of most of the world leaders gone completely mad with false power. For too long now we have been told what we are allowed to do, and not allowed to do, and now these people want us to continue the madness of wearing down who we are.

Yet, even with all of that, there are still those people in the photo, who mean so very much and who have never ever let me down, even though to them, at times, it may have seemed as such.

And when all of the BS ultimately hits the fan, the people who will be there to help grab it all up and throw it out into the garden, who have always been there are those people who, even when they are pissed at us, still love us, still want the best of us....are still around, and not just in the manner that is "wow, that sucks....oh well, nice talkinʻ to you -call me!"

We all have that kind of friend, right?

The kind of friends that I am writing about are the very ones who have seen us at our worst, enjoyed time with us at our best, tell us when we are being completely unreasonable and always love us...no matter what.

Even when we are behaving like a turd.

This does NOT mean that they agree with us (or ever have) and it does not mean that they are going to take our crap (because they never have). What it means is that they appreciate us for who we are and the place that we take in their lives and vice versa.

It also does not mean that they get to be mean to us or that we get to be mean to them, even when we disagree - we can do that without causing drama and havoc.

"RIDE OR DIE"

There are people who come into and go from our lives. We know who our people are when things get crazy, or life kicks us in the ass, and it seems like there is no one around to help you put it all back together.

Your best friends are the ones who, even as they cuss you out, say "I told you so, silly" or a host of other things that you KNOW are all the truth, also let you know, without any reservation, that the reason they do this when you do stupid stuff (because it is SO NOT LIKE YOU AT ALL) remind you that you are better than what you think you are -and really, these are your "ride or dies" - they are so not lying to you.

They are the ones who tell you when you have a big nasty booger hanging out of your nose after you have sneezed (and some will actually mom-wipe that sucker from your face and make it like it was never there) and are the ones who, upon meeting your betrothed, will come out of their beat-to-hell Toyota Camry (along with all of that weed smoke) and not bat an eye.

Very simply they just say "Honey, this is who I told you about -I was not kidding was I?" and yet - even as they are far more reserved than you are, they tell this very important person to them that you are also as important, just not in the same way -yet, you are still part of the Ohana, part of the family, because you have always been.

And you still are.

I Am You.

There are people on this planet with us who share some of the very most important moments in our lives, who were there when we were at our lowest point, there no matter what - even if miles separate us.

We are ALWAYS there for one another.

Even from another part of the country or the world.

Ride or die.

To everyone with a set of friends...

We will have lots of friends throughout our lives. If we are lucky, there will be a couple of them that will grow with you through life, just like we want them to, and just as we are promised they will be.

We will have times when we have "friends" who come into our lives for whatever it is that we are supposed to be learning from them and then one day, for whatever reason, they wonʻt be there like they were before. Whether we like it or not, this is the way that these things happen for us (yes - for). It is how we learn.

Always, we will have that one group who has always been there from the time that none of us believed we would be who we are, where we are, what we chose to become at this point in time.

To those people, we never change for anything more than just the better.

Sort of like fine wine.

These are my friends - my best friends.

Seriously - without them, I am not sure where I would be.

When I was lost in the labrynth that was me, they made it lots easier for me to find my way back Home to who I Am.

I Love you guys.