Grateful for...

...well, first of all, for friends.  

Friends can be partially responsible for trouble we may get ourselves into, and then again, friends can be partially responsible for great discoveries about ourselves.  They may feel that they play minor roles, but the truth is they are some major characters to us!

Friends without number have touched my life in many ways along this so-far-32-year-long path.  

From some friends, I learned I AM capable of doing or withstanding many hard things.  From other friends, I've learned what I am NOT capable of enduring, or what I should never try to attempt... for their safety and mine.  ;) 

Many friends I've had most of my life.  Others have only crossed the stage in the latter scenes of this act.  Regardless, each has blessed my life and for that I'm grateful.  

Sadly, some friends have departed as peculiarly as they had arrived.  Others are still timelessly close and I'm loving watching their families & their hearts grow.  

The very best of my friends?  Him, I married almost a decade ago.

Friends inspire & bring out some of the best in me!  Seriously, thanks to one friend, LatchKey Photography even exists, no.lie.  Her encouragement and constant faith in my skills helped me muster the courage not to just leave my images in obscurity & dust.

Another friend, newer in the last couple years, has been one of my rocks while facing & coming to terms with the realities of secondary-infertility in my life.  She's witty, and sharp as a tack.  She's got empathy/sympathy galore as she battles through her own endometriosis and infertility.  No sad day's too sad for me to face with her in my corner.  

A couple friends in Idaho are my long lost siamese twins.... separated by geography, different mothers, and years.  But otherwise we're soooo connected!  They're the up to my down, the snicker to my guffaw.  And they're just two examples of several amazing Idaho blessings that I count as dearest friends.  Same goes for some of my Utah friends; even an endearing friend back East, a talented Australian friend, and a Utah-turned-Germany friend.  The list really goes on & on!

Trust me when I say that I have been blessed with great friends!  

One I'd like to mention a little more, though, is another sweet gal.  She's a stalwart example of perseverance to me.  She battles MS while simultaneously raising 4 phenomenal boys.  She holds down the fort all while supporting and loving one handsomely-named husband (well and he's quite dashing to behold as well)...sometimes from afar, based on where his job pulls him to at the moment.  When he's away for work, she has it all on her shoulders.  Overwhelming as that is, she still wakes up, puts her feet on the floor, and moves forward every morning.

...Karen.is.amazing.  

If I had my druthers, and money was no object... and family didn't mind us moving away again, the Gusty Ridge clan would up & move to her neck of the woods in Colorado, just so I could help her with the details of each day.  

So- she has inspired this grateful post of mine, thanks to her guest post at another of our friends' blog: Ruffled Sunshine.  Coming away from reading her tender blurb, and Jenn's thought-provoking request that we share what we are most thankful for... this is where my thoughts are, which is our "second of all" for today:

"the small things.

for me its the way that only buttons can make my fingers feel as they tumble out, after i've dug my hands deep into a bucket of them!

the way my soul jumps for joy when i'm holding brand new pencils, or smelling a brand-new, freshly opened pack of crayons.

the lilt i feel when i hear from a kind friend, for the first time in a while.... or the bated-breath-anticipation that comes when dropping a note in the mail for someone dear.

it's the lightness i suddenly discover in my step after connecting with a new font, or the flutter a small handful of words can give my heart.... kinda like my new faves from karen's post above:"The sparkles of happy in their eyes every day."

it's the small things that make everyday feel like Christmas. they're what make my existence feel significant.

yep. i'm grateful for the small things. :)"

In the grand scheme of things, friends can at times appear to be small things- 

but their impact is always LARGE & always LASTING!  

Thanks to each of you, my friends.  Thank you for every facet of my life that cannot help but be changed by you & your influence.  ::hugs::

"To the soul there is hardly anything more healing than friendship." 

~Thomas Moore

(Um, excuse me, Mr. Moore, sir?  I'd say the Atonement is more healing... MOST healing in fact.  But then again, the Atonement is a gift from our most perfect friend, Jesus Christ.  So, then again, carry on!)