Best Friends I Wish I'd Never Met

Friendships are great...we have fun with them, tell secrets, share our hearts, go for coffee, vent our frustrations and go through life changes together. I have so many friends from my high school days and I am thankful for each of them. So many memories of basketball games, no-bake cookies, staying out later than we should have and so many other good memories

(some that I can't share on here...y'all can thank me later.)

Then we move into adulthood and develop new friendships based on the church we attend, are they in the same life stage we are, newly married, married a long time, have children, stay at home moms, homeschool...so many criteria goes into building lasting friendships. Some of those come and go through the years and some stick around for the long haul. They go through good times and bad times with you. You pray together, laugh together, share dreams and struggles. I cherish all of those friendships I've had through the years and am so thankful for each of them. Even the ones who didn't stick around for long taught me something, stretched me in new ways and are a part of who I am.

Now I'm finding a different category of friend... friends who I immediately bond with and we share tears, fears and struggles the first time we meet. We reach out to one another as if we've known each other for years, yet we just met. We can share our deepest thoughts and hurts, yet we may not know each other very well. We have one thing in common...we've each lost the most important person on earth to us. We've each lost the one who loved us no matter what, we've had our security and safety jerked violently out from under us and are trying to figure out how to stand again although we would rather not even get up. We would rather pretend it isn't happening and hide from the world and we each understand those feelings. We can look at one another and just know the hurt, we know if it's been a really bad day. We all know nights are hard, we don't have to ask. We know that if we go online in the middle of the night, we will each be there for one another because we can't sleep without our love.

I'm so very thankful for these new friends I have, yet I wish I'd never had to meet you. I wish I didn't need that understanding. I wish I didn't know the hurt and didn't understand the middle of the night tears...the feeling of my protector, my provider...my everything being gone. We lose some old friends who can't handle the pain and grief, don't know what to say or just don't take the effort to say anything, but we also gain some wonderful blessings in the middle of this storm. God doesn't leave us alone...he is with us and also sends us friends to walk the journey with us. So to my new friends...although I wish we'd never had reason to meet...I am so very thankful for you.