Friends Forever.

I've always believed God puts people in your life for a reason. In my lifetime, I've been particularly blessed with the friends I've had and the memories I've shared with those people. This has particularly been on my mind lately when I saw that my friend from EIU and her husband are expecting their first child (and I am very excited for them both!). In college, D and I shared many fond memories together. We played poker together on Monday nights my sophomore year, we t.p.'d my RA's door, we went to countless basketball games together, and if it wasn't for her... there's a good chance Zack and I may not be together. I credit her and Beth for teaching me how to effectively boo the other team at basketball games.

I could continue on about all the fun times we had together at college but I won't. And I'm sad that we've gone our separate ways and perhaps don't keep in touch very well. But I guess that's life.

I've had many best friends during my life and I still care about all them very deeply. Recently at work, I was told that I simply care too much about my employees. But that also follows being told I have an enormous heart. For some reason or other, God gave me this HUGE capacity to love everyone. 

I've always believed it to be one of my greatest strengths because all I really want to do is help people. It's that simple for me. My reason for living on this Earth is to help out the people I come into contact with. That's why I'll never make in corporate America because I am far too honest and care far too much about the people around me.

Tonight I was also able to catch up with an old friend of mine from church, Jessie. She's currently working as a missionary in southeast Asia doing research. I've been following all her newsletters and e-mails and I pray for her every day. Like D and I, my friendship with Jessie has shared very fond memories. We coached the church's JBQ team together, went on countless missions trips/retreats/conventions together, and so many other memories. Jessie made my faith in God stronger and always lifted my spirits with her laughter and boundless energy. She has invited me to see her speak at a church around Chicago when she returns to the states in December. I'm very excited and cannot wait to see her again.

So I guess the point of my blog tonight is that if you were ever a close friend of mine, you're still very important to me. I know our paths may have split and gone separate ways. Heck, we may not have a single thing in common anymore (even though part of me wishes we did). And even if your world falls apart and everyone else runs off, I never will. I have this fault of being desperately loyal and once you've gained it, it never waivers.

I have this dream of one day being best friends with everyone again. Learning about what you're up to and where life has taken you. We probably once said best friends forever and when I said it, I meant it. If we never speak again, then it's ok but I will always cherish the friendship we shared for the rest of my life.

So thank you for allowing me to be your friend. I won't list you all because that will take forever. I have MANY people that I would consider close friends.I will consider you all my friends until the day I die (whether you like it or not). And to end my blog... I end with this fun video from Youtube. Just remember... you've got a friend in me.