Ariel

I often pat myself on the back for all the things I can accomplish in a day. Take this morning, I had to get the girls ready, chase the dog who decided to be a cat and eat yarn, do homework with Bear, get Bean to move, get lunch prepped, make breakfast, get myself ready and then get out the door. In an hour. Then come home, Skype-guitar with Michael, eat my breakfast, clean the great room, make dinner, load and unload the dishwasher and again chase the dog from eating the giraffe stuffed animal then back out the door pick up Bear rush to reading class, come home, bundle the girls up and send them back outside until the sun sets.

But then I talk to people like my friend Crystal and I'm put to shame. This girl (saying woman doesn't feel right) has her masters in human anatomy (well according to her the masters isn't finished but I'm gonna say it because she's too smart of a cookie to not have it) , she could probably tell you the names of all the funny bones in your ear and when you break your finger she'd probably correct you and tell you it was a phalange that was damaged.She also has all the responsibilities of having her own apartment, goes to school full time learning how to you know save peoples lives as a paramedic and to top it off she works full time at night as an EMT. She'll correct me if I'm wrong. She's brutally honest like that. It's why we're amigos. Totally OK with being straight shootn.

I was often under the impression that my friends were supposed to be these well rounded packages. They were supposed to provide for me everything that I need my friend to be at that moment. It wasn't until I became just a tad wiser that I realized that my friends are in my life for specific reasons and play certain roles.

Forgive me if I'm repeating mine self here...but in college I used to have these dinner "parties." There was one or two regular guests and then we would rotate in some poor random soul and it almost became some sort of odd social experiment as to how the person would react in our little circle of people.  Crystal would with out fail make the person feel rather uncomfortable at some juncture in the evening. The room would get kinda quiet with this low murmur of wanting to laugh but trying desperately not to until the question was answered or I would inevitably burst out in raucous laughter. Some of my fondest memories...also why I hate washing dishes so much...

Crystal got me through mountain high stacks of biology note-cards, made me want to pee my pants with laughter over translations of our lab assistants barely audible lectures and would buy me waffles from the dormitory cafeteria with her swanky important person swipe card. She introduced me to the world of rugby which to me seems more like the sport where people compete to rack up the most injuries, took me to my first gay bar, peer pressured me into taking my first shot (mom pretend you didn't read that), crochets like a mad woman and taught me how to properly layer tanks. Which thank you I now have realized that I'm wearing the same two shirts in almost all of the pictures of myself...

So I have friends in my life that I have to remind to slow down and take a breather, I have friends that make me laugh, people who listen without fail, teachers, culturally well rounded folk, partners in crime and most importantly who accept me for the kook that I am.

On those busy days where you feel like your brain is more like a cyclone take a moment and tell a friend how much you care about them. We really are blessed with the people in our lives. I know I am.

Love you chocolate cake. ;)