Thankful For Friends

Posted on by Joyful2bee

My thankfulness list includes a number of friends who are very close to me. What qualities decide if someone is a good friend or not? Truly good friends will listen to each other when one needs to talk and offer suggestions and support, sometimes even after hearing the same story twice. Some friends know when to be quiet and just listen, when someone needs to vent or express their feelings. We understand when one of us is feeling bad and can’t go on a trip with us. We provide a ride when the other one’s car is in the shop.  

What would our lives be like without friends??  I have several friends with whom I enjoy various activities; activities such as eating out, traveling, going to movies, or sharing thoughts and feelings. I have two friends I get to do all of these things with and more. They are both sisters to me.

My longest friendship has been since about 2006. D and I have traveled to Busch Gardens, Asheboro Zoo in North Carolina about once a year until Covid. We have been on several beach trips with family and other friends. We flew to Boulder, Colorado once, where we ate at a Moroccan restaurant and attended a Fall Festival. We love funny movies and have been known to act unbelievably goofy.

Friends on the back of a rhino statue.
D and I laughing after she climbed up on the back of the rhino statue.

My second friend/sister, M, I have known almost as long but became good friends a few years ago. M taught me that it is fun to add a bus tour to trips to places you are unfamiliar with. You can see the main sights, historical sights, points of interest, and see places you may want to come back to for a more in depth tour. M and I went to Biltmore Mansion and the town of in Asheville, Atlantic Beach and Beaufort, NC several years ago. This is a picture from the time M, D and I went to the Asheboro Zoo.

Me, D and M

We three share a lot of the same life experiences. Both of these friends are or were also night shift nurses in the same hospital system I worked for. I am a retired night shift nurse now but can commiserate with their night shift experiences. We are all single.(One just lost her husband several years ago.) I lost mine in 2009; the other is long divorced. We all have adult children. Both friends are close to 10 years younger than I am but we all can act like big kids and cut up. We always have a lot of fun together.

We respect the wisdom, as well as the experiences that each of us has .We can give and accept advice from each other. An honest and open relationship enables us to tell each other how we really feel about a problem.

So here are some photos of M, D and I while on some of the trips mentioned above. D can be a clown and is not afraid to laugh at herself or me.   Antics with a T-Rex Puppet at the zoo.

                                                                      D with a T-Rex Puppet at the zoo.

M making Christmas cookies
Two Buddies at Christmas
Two Good Friends at Christmas

I also have a long distance friend, M, who recently moved from Cape Town, South Africa to Scotland with her husband. We talk about twice a week and share things going on in our lives, laugh at funny things, and share things we are learning or doing. Even though I have never met her in person, we have forged a great friendship of trust, openness, support, and joy.

I also have a friend, R, who is funny, kindhearted, and we have fun shopping at her favorite place that begins with a W.

Each friend has enriched my life in some way by being my friend. I love each of them and am thankful for them. I have some newer friends who I treasure too. But these are my oldest friends in terms of length of friendship..

26 thoughts on “Thankful For Friends”

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  10. Thanks for sharing!

    The post reminds me of a famous Bible proverb: “By iron, iron itself is sharpened. So one man sharpens the face of another.” (Proverbs 27:17)
    When people bring ironlike moral strength to a friendship, they can help each other to grow, and the bonds of friendship between them will be stronger.

    Liked by 2 people

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  12. It is so lovely and inspiring thinking about one’s friends and to read about yours. Bus trips are an amazing way to get to know a place. My first bus trip was around Cape Town where I live, when I took an old friend of mine who had come back on holiday from New Zealand. I miss that dear friend of mine…. And it was a fun day out.

    Liked by 2 people

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