Friends

I am one of those people who are just better one on one, I think. I get really ADD when there is a lot of conversation carrying on around me. I love quality time with a good friend that I enjoy listening to and vice versa. Last night, that friend was Anna. We had a good time out at Anthony's (even thought the coconut shrimp was bland and soggy and the lettuce was wilted...) our conversation was more than enough. It's so nice for moms to get out once in awhile and be human (as opposed to animals caged in their homes?? haha) and talk intelligibly.
My friend Beckah is only 17 but she and I have so much fun together. She knows I am a total homebody, so she comes to visit me at my house quite a bit and bring me good laughs and conversation. I really don't know what I would do without her friendship and company in my life. In contrast, I have a friend named Martha who is in her 50's now, and when I lived in California, we'd have tea, and converse and enjoy rainy days together in coffeehouses, and generally just be women together. I love the diversity in age that my friends can have. I would be miserable if I was bordered in to only having friends in my age group. How boring! ALthough I deeply enjoy my friends in my age group, it is so interesting to get perspective from other generations as well. Martha had led such a rich life full of trials, and made it out the other end with wisdom and joy in her outlook. I needed to experience her perspective. It grows my faith to rub iron against iron in my friendships.
I am thankful for old friends who know everything about me, like Jillian and Lisa and Kate. I am thankful for new friends like Abby and Shannon, Heather and Hattie, who's love of the Lord and genuine faith reflect in their lives and light up any room they walk into. I am grateful for my young friends, Beckah and McKenna and CC, who keep tings fresh and are at life's threshhold, just plunging in to the newness of adulthood. They make me take things less seriously, and laugh more.
And I am thankful for my seasoned friends, like my mom and Martha and Sue, and Donna, whom I would run to in my deepest trials, because I know they'd pray with me and give me good advice.