Friends

I have been thinking a lot about friends lately. And I think they are kind of like apples. Sometimes you get a really mushy one and you think the whole bag is ruined, but really all you have to do is toss it and realize how perfectly good the rest of them are.  I have been trying to decide what to do with a friend who hurts my feelings and I just can't seem to let it go. I have gotten a lot of good advice though, and I think the best thing to do is just distance myself from any contact with that person, even facebook, because that is a place where passive aggressive people can really be allowed to hurt your feelings and get away with it.

Enough about that. What I really wanted to write about was how grateful I am again for such good friends. Last week on my birthday, I got a call from an old bookstore friend, Matt Hajny. This man has the uncanny ability to remember birthdays and he called me especially to tell me he was thinking about me on mine. It wasn't a long phone call, but we had a chance to catch up a little bit and he was asking how Brian was doing. I filled him in quickly and told him I was thinking about this other woman we worked with, Angela. Her husband also had brain cancer and I just have been wondering how she coped with some of the stresses. I would really be interested in getting her perspective because I feel like our situation is very unique.  Well, lo and behold, Friday I got a text from Matt saying that he went to dinner with Angela and got her info to me and mine to her so we can talk. He is just so thoughtful that way. My friends are coming up with unique and special ways to support us and I am so appreciative.

The Peoria Bach Festival was this past week as well. Brian and I went to both parts of the Christmas Oratorio Friday and Saturday. Matt came with us last night. Interestingly enough, on Friday, an older gentleman sat next to me and I knew I recognized him. I figured it was from the doctor's office where I used to work, so I asked if he was ever a patient there. He said in fact he was and he was just their that very morning. He told me his name and said that he had knee surgery four months ago and was seeing Dr. Chiou due to some swelling. This didn't really make sense because I haven't worked there since 2010 when I got married. Well I thought and thought, and then remembered that I knew him from a poetry class I took at ICC. At the end, I told him that is where I actually knew him from. It was a coincindence that he had seen Dr. Chiou. He was a very insightful and well traveled poet, and he had a great voice. I loved listening to him recite his work. We had a nice chat and then saw him again last night.

But the highlight of my whole weekend was last night when we got home. I was checking facebook before bed, and I saw a picture Amy had posted. She lit a luminaria for Brian at Henry's Relay for Life. I was just so touched. My eyes welled up with tears as I showed Brian the picture.  People always say that with true friends, no matter how much time has passed, you can always pick up right where you left off. That is so true to me with a couple of my very dearest friends. I don't see Amy as often as I wish I did, even though I see her more now than I had in the years right after high school, but I just know we will always have that kind of friendship.  And those few friends always pull a little closer to me in times of need. I think you know who you are. There is a picture of almost all of us from my little wedding.

Amy, I am so grateful for you.

Love, Lindsey