6.19.2010

on friends

last night, i dreamed that i won the lottery...
then everyone wanted to be my friend

and then with the dawn of morning
came the dawn of realization
that it was all just a dream

and then i thought of the friends i do have
and i realized,
i
have
won
the
lotto.

{a little cheesy, i know... or so the hubby said.
but it gets the point across,
and that is all i am concerned with.
i can be cheesy hoaky every now and then.}

friends

some days i'm overwhelmed with gratitude about the friends i've been blessed with. so many over the years. so many right now. from many sources and many walks of life. my best friend who i celebrated with today and who sacrificed her valuable time for me last night. new friends. old friends. rekindled friendships. very close friends who know the most hidden parts of my life. some less intimate friends, but still great friends none the less. family of friends who turn into friends too. those who started out my friend and became that and more. those who started as something else {a counselor or the barista who makes my tea or fellow sidewalk-sitting patrons at the same coffee shop where i met the barista or shop owners or friends of friends } but then became a friend as well. friends that help me. friends that allow me to help them. young friends who are just starting out in life. white-haired friends who have many years on me and loads of wisdom to share. friends i've not spoken to in many years, but i know if i called them up or wrote to them, we would pick up right where we left off with out hesitation {it happened just recently }. friends who sit with me and tell me it will all be okay. friends who write to me when we can't exchange words in person. friends i've never met that send me $10 gift cards to starbucks and say, "have a tea or two on me and enjoy!" friends who write and say, "haven't seen you post on your blog in a while... hope all is okay." friends who became friends before i ever met them, and once that meeting occurred, it was confirmed. {it happened today at my best friends bridal shower.} friends who help me even when they don't know they are doing so. friends who tell me how i've helped them... making me feel appreciated and needed. friends who include me in their lives... sometimes to my great surprise, because they are already so blessed and make me wonder why they would need or want one more friend in me. friends for just a day. friends for a lifetime. people who perhaps might not even know {although some do } just how much their kindness and love and friendship play an enormous part in why i can sit here today and write out these thoughts. i'm so blessed.

i've been thinking {and reading } a lot about friendship lately. one of my favorite places to read about friendship is in the book, the four loves, where c.s. lewis writes about friendship as one of the four main kinds of love. indeed, it is love.

so i will quote one of my favorite parts from that book. but first... i just want to say to all my blog friends and readers. i've been away for a bit, if you haven't already noticed. i did not set out to take a break, which is strange, because every other time i have taken a break, i did so intentionally, and stated my intent before doing so. and also with those breaks was the inability to stay away from my blog for too long, because i probably was not truly in a place where i needed to be away long-term.

but this was not planned. i can only say, i've just not found the desire or words to post like i usually do... in fact, just getting online at all has become something i'm finding i want to do less these days. not that i don't have things to say. i have so very many things to say! but i am not sure how to express them lately. so much of what is in my mind remains there. that said, i miss the interaction in blog land, and i hope to be back sooner than later. i hope all is well with you all.

so now for lewis' words...
"in a circle of true friends each man is simply what he is: stands for nothing but himself. no one cares twopence about any one else's family, profession, class, income, race, or previous history. ...that is the kingliness of friendship. we meet like sovereign princes of independent states, abroad, on neutral ground, freed from our contexts. this love {essentially } ignores not only our physical bodies but that whole embodiment which consists of our family, job, past and connections...

hence {if you will not misunderstand me } the exquisite arbitrariness and irresponsibility of this love. i have no duty to be anyone's friend and no man in the world has a duty to be mine. no claims, no shadow of necessity. friendship is unnecessary, like philosphy, like art, like the universe itself {for God did not need to create }. it has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival."

...all words that perfectly shed light on one of the biggest reasons i love the blogosphere and the friends i've made here.

just popping in to say hello and thank you, friends.


22 comments:

S. Etole said...

My heart is lighter now that you are back ... like the softness of your image.

mrs mediocrity said...

You know, I came so close to emailing you the other day and saying exactly that: "haven't seen you post on your blog in a while... hope all is okay." I am glad to see you here and to know that you are okay, I have been thinking about you...sometimes time is what we need.

Toni said...

Nothing wrong with taking a break, intentional or not. Sometimes they are just needed, even if we don't realize it at the time. I've certainly been taking breaks lately, but life is just getting in the way. =)

Jenny said...

Sometimes we just need to incubate.

Hi Kooky said...

Well hello, friend! You are indeed blessed, and you are a blessing. Thank you for reminding me to count my blessings. LOVE the Lewis quotation.

laurie l. goodman said...

i hear ya. i have been much less in tune with my own blog lately. perhaps feeling to be more private...perhaps not enough time...
wonderful topic for you to pop in and discuss.
friendship hasn't always been what i used to think it should mean for me...i think i had a fantasyland ideal about it when i was young... many forms of friendship and lengths of time it lasts... fleeting and flowing like everything else. at the heart of it, love, accept, trust.
be well, friend o' mine. :)

Sueann said...

Ahh the treasure and miracle of a friend. Written about so elegantly by you dear one. Thanks so much for sharing this.
As for your break...everyone needs to break...and you are no different. You needed it...you are loved!
Hugs
SueAnn

Alaskangal B said...

Yes, you have won the lotto to have that many friends. You are on of the few who appreicate good friends and realize the blessings. Happy to see a post from you. Keep your lovely head up G.

jacs23 said...

Time -- what a curse in our dark days - and a yet a gift when we least know it. Take it. Each day - more than one day - whatever you need to do, when you need to do it. It's yours. :)
I wish I could have chatted with you longer today - but look so forward to our meeting again! Your spirit is a gentle one & your gifts of writing & photography bless many.
Hang in there & know you are loved -- by many.
In peace ><>

georgia b. said...

thanks... friends.

thank you jacqueline. it was so nice to meet you finally! i look forward to seeing you again at the wedding! i, too, wish we could have chatted longer. we'll have to make a point of it at the next big event!

Rochelle said...

Don't ever feel bad about taking a break. Good for you for listening to your body/mind and taking time to regroup and recharge. Your bloggy friends understand and will wait patiently for your beautiful words and photographs again (like todays post!) when you are ready.

Take care,

beth said...

hello friend....and breaks with or without reason are perfectly okay....

The Velvet Trunk said...

Georgia, I adore you and I understand your silence on here. I have felt much the same thing lately in my life. And I love LOVE the pictures on here. Girl, you are SO talented in MANY things and photography is definitely one of them! ;-)

Hugs!!

Love ya,
Mel

georgia b. said...

oh, thank you, melanie! it sure was nice to see you here today.

Prairie Girl Studio said...

hey there georgi-girl ...
friends are here always ... in the rushes, in the storms, in the calm and for sure in the pauses ...
cuz that's what friends are for ...
allowing each other to breathe and just be ...
love you!
xo
prairiegirl

Beth said...

I was wondering about you and am glad you popped in to touch base with everyone. Keep listening to yourself--you'll know when it's time to blog regularly again.

chasity said...

Friends are those rare people who ask how you are and then wait for the answer.
***

The best kind of friend is the one you could sit on a porch with, never saying a word, and walk away feeling like that was the best conversation you've had.

****

some little friend quotes that i love.

hope you have a wonderful week friend :)

chas

Lisa said...

such a lovely, dreamy photo...

and friends! what would we do without them. i'm glad to count you as a friend, miss georgia, even if a far away and never officially met one. :)

georgia b. said...

thank you, ladies.

me too, lisa...

Steve Gravano said...

Thanks for the C.S. Lewis. I never red any of his work. I think I'll start with The Four Loves. Glad you're back from your rest.

S. Etole said...

Thinking of you ...

georgia b. said...

thank you, susan. i needed to see that just now.