Friendship

Today I feel thankful for wonderful friends. Have you ever had the experience where you talk with a friend and after the conversation is over you feel MUCH better about a lot of things? That happened to me again this week and I still feel like I have a permanent smile on my face because of it. I'm just thankful for those kind of experiences. :)

For the last little while I've been spending a lot of time thinking about my friendships and about how I am as a friend. I used to be excellent at keeping in touch with people. Really, I was! But then some events happened in my life and keeping in touch with people, unfortunately, was pushed to the back burner. Since then, I have not been as good with keeping in touch with friends and I feel so sad about that! I feel like these friends of mine think that I don't care, when in all reality, I do care!! I just haven't been as good with letting them know that. So if you're reading this and you're one of "those" friends who hasn't heard from me in forever, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I've been so bad that way. I really am going to be better about it!

This has all come up because for the first time in a long time, I've had a desire to really be social again. It's not that I've avoided social situations, but I just haven't felt as enthusiastic about them as I once did. I used to have plans for EVERY weekend of a month and I was always on the go and always traveling. I'm not that way so much anymore. I absolutely love being at my home and for a long while, that feeling caused me to wonder if I was turning in to some kind of hermit! That's not the case, I've learned. :) The reality is that I just like to have a nice balance...I like to enjoy social times and I like to have time alone, too. I do not like being super busy. Being overscheduled really does wear me out in many aspects of my life and I just don't care for the feeling I get when I'm overscheduled and overwhelmed. But when that does happen, I've learned that it's okay to counter those situations with some quiet time by myself. Of course, it's inevitable that some days/weeks will be just plain 'ol busy, but I know now that it doesn't have to be a consistent pattern. It's my choice, for the most part, how my schedule works itself out. But I'm just truly thankful lately for feeling like I've had enough of a balance in my life that the desire to have social time with friends has greatly increased. That truly is a good feeling. :)

So, thank you to all of my friends who have dealt with some of my days of withdrawal and for understanding that it was never anything personal! :) I look forward to future phone conversations and person-to-person visits with you!! I intend to make sure that you know that I do care for you and that it's not just words I say. So, put on the pot for tea (or in my case, for hot chocolate!), because I'm coming over to visit!!!! :o)