The Gift of Friendship

"Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant."- Socrates

Have you ever had a friend that just gets you?

I have a lot of acquaintances, and I have had several people in my life whom I consider "friends." I definitely do not take friendship lightly, and I have never been one of those people with lots of "best friends." David has been my best friend for over ten years now. However, until I met Mindi, I never had a girlfriend who gets me. Some people might call her my best friend; I call her my soul mate. We clerked together at a law firm in the summer of 2004, but, frankly, we didn't really hit it off. We studied for the bar exam in Lubbock at the same time, but we weren't really good friends then, either. We started working at the same law firm in September 2005, and we finally bonded. Our husbands bonded, too, which made it even better. We did not click at first, but once we clicked, we realized that we might have been separated at birth. She just gets me.

Although I feel that David and I made the right decision to move to Fort Worth, leaving her and our "daily friendship" behind was one of the most difficult things I have had to do. She makes me a better person and supports me in everything I do, even though we live over 300 miles apart. However, I miss things like monthly pedicures that gave me an opportunity to bounce ideas off her and pamper myself at the same time. I haven't done these things since I left Amarillo in November. I miss her. David and I miss watching basketball and just hanging out with her and Jonathan.

I say all this because she and Jonathan did something really wonderful for us this week. They sent us a watercolor painting of Brennan. I had been considering ordering some type of painting of him to keep in the house (check out this site), but I had not gotten around to it. Thank goodness I didn't, because this painting is just perfect. We already sent them a handwritten thank-you note (I love sending and receiving handwritten notes, and, not surprisingly, she does, too), but no words can express how thankful we are for friends like these.

Mindi and Jonathan, thank you for the beautiful painting, but most of all, thank you for your friendship.