A Friend’s Thanksgiving

Oh! Think Not My Spirits Are Always As Light

…The thread of our life would be dark, Heaven knows
If it were not with friendship and love intertwined;
And I care not how soon I may sink to repose,
When these blessing shall cease to be dear to my mind.

 by Thomas Moore

Of all the holidays and gatherings, I think Thanksgiving has to be my favorite.  It is a time  set aside to remember all we have been blessed with, giving thanks to God for all the bountiful gifts and blessings He bestows on us in so many different ways.  It is simple, unpretentious, not bogged down in commercialism…just a beautiful season of gratitude, because, in each season of life, we always have things to be thankful for.

A few year ago I decided I would like to have a “Friends Thanksgiving” to celebrate the wonderful friendships in my life.  I am so grateful to be surrounded by family, and we have our day of celebration on the actual holiday, but during this season I am also reminded of the absolute blessing that real friends bring to our lives.

Over the weekend we had a gathering of our closest and dearest friends along with their kids who are now treasured friends of our kids…double blessing!  It was a night filled with much laughter, good food, and just plain fun.  Among my dearest friends is one I have known since first grade.  We could spend hours laughing till we cry reminiscing over past memories.  She is my fellow nature lover, photographer, and incredible artist who hasn’t met an artistic medium she can’t conquer.  She is a teacher any parent would love to have for their child because of her caring heart and common-sense approach.  Long ago school days, ice-skating on frozen ponds, hiking through woods, cycling nature trails and kayaking all while solving the world’s problems then laughing hysterically are all cherished memories with this incredible friend.  Knowing my love for plants, she brought me the beautiful rosemary plant pictured below, which Kitty has adopted.

Another treasured friendship is from my  single, college days.  This is my very practical friend, also a nature/animal lover and the one who taught me all a dog owner ever needed to know about cats.  We call her the cat whisperer as she is the one who first dared hold the wild cats that showed up in our yard that we have since adopted and love…yes the one above was “wild.”  I have so many fun memories of silly things single girls do and then the memories continued as we both went on to get married and have kids within the same few years.  As our kids grew up together we shared play-dates in the park, baseball games, basketball games as the crazy moms on the top bleacher, family cycling days, campfires, beach days, and more recently, hikes through West Virginia.  She gave us all a scare this year with a cancer, but thankfully she is well, and it was another reason to set aside a day and give thanks for her friendship.

Last, but not least, is a more recent friend made when our kids were older elementary-aged.  She is also practical, but fun-loving and a loyal, trusted friend.  We, too, have shared cycling trips, field trips with our kids, coffee time on our porches, pool days, Easter egg hunts and tears and laughter as we tried to figure out the crazy teen years together!  She is an incredible mom, as are my other dear friends, and I have been blessed with her wisdom and understanding as I navigate through the stages of motherhood.

As I look at the fading beauty of the mums on my porch, I am reminded that the beauty of true friendships never fade. As I tell my sons, if you have even just one true friend in life, you are blessed- someone you can laugh with, cry with, be yourself with and be loved through the good times and bad…in essence, “family.”

May you treasure the beautiful friendships in your life!

Until next time

∼ Jen