Friend (Five Minute Friday)

 It's Friday! And better than that, it's inRL Friday. WOOOT! I'm doing the happy dance over here - it's one of my favorite days of the year. And Lisa-Jo picked a FANTASTIC word for today. So, in preparation for my community experience tonight, I get to take a few extra minutes and focus on my friends. Can't beat it! So, here's the rules: 

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Please visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments.

and then here we go. 

FRIEND

Go.

What is a friend? Depends on the day, on the time. It's someone who's walked the journey I am walking, one step - one day - one year ahead of me. Or it's the gal who's holding my hand as we wait for the kindergarten bus to arrive. Or the girl who stays up with me night after night when I need to cry after my heart's been broken. Or the girl who stays up with me all night to spread the school spirit love a little wider. It's the girl who picks m-n-ms out of her wedding reception bowls alongside me and it's the girl who loves me when I am at my worst. The one who comes over when my house is a wreck and hugs my kids, and hugs my neck and says it's ok. It's the girl who calls when she knows I need her, even when I don't know I need her. It's the one who asks me to stand beside her on the most important day in her life, and the girl who stood beside me at mine. It's the mom who holds you when you think you are failing at being a mom and the girl who picks you up and raises your spirit when it's at its lowest. It's the woman who takes you out on a kid free night and makes you laugh until you cry. It's the girl who walks 39 miles beside you for a cause you both believe in. It's the girl who travels across the ocean with you so you don't have to go on vacation alone. Tonight it's all the thousands of women who tuned into #inRL and laughed, cried, shared, embraced the hard world of community together.

It's the girl, the mom, the woman, who God puts in your life right at the moment you need her most.

Stop.

Side note -- I describe a few of my different friends from different times of life above. But this picture below is one of my dearest friends, see note about standing beside her on the most important day :)  Even though the distance between us is far greater than either of us would prefer.