A Letter to My Two Best Friends

To My Two Best Friends,

You two have been the reason I have made it through the past couple months. You two always provide me the kick in the butt I need and listen to my problems. I can call you whenever and I know if you can you will answer and listen. You know what I deserve, which means you fight endlessly to convince me that I deserve better.I'm lucky to have two people that are always there for and that always listen because not many people have one let alone two.

To K:
K I have known you since the fourth grade, when you asked me to walk home from school. I said no because I was afraid to get in trouble. that moment forged a friendship that has survived it all, from that moment you have pushed me to try new things and not be afraid of life. You helped me through one of the roughest periods of my life, when I decided to completely change my life around and get out from under my mother's shadow. You were supportive and even helped me dye my hair blonde. You kept telling me to do what makes me happy and not be afraid to chase after what I want. Whenever I am scared to try something, you push me full force into it because you don't accept fear as a reason to hide from life. I have always played life on the cautious side, while you leap straight ahead and don't look back. Many times you have dragged me with you, which let me experience things I never would have otherwise. I am nowhere near as fearless as you are, but because of you I am more brave now than I would have ever been without you.

I look up to you because you decide what you want your life to be and you go for it with full force. You don't let anyone stand in your way or tell you how to live your life. So often I let myself get bogged down by trying to please people and live my life according to others wishes. You remind me that I need to live my life the way I want to, not the way others think I should. Now, I'm not saying you are perfect, I know you have fears and insecurities, but that's why you have me. In those moments of doubt I will always remind you that you are amazing and you are going so far in life. I know you will achieve greatness because of your heart, determination, and caring nature I know you think I sometimes hold you on a pedestal, but it's only because I admire the person you are. Despite your fears, insecurities  and moments of doubt, you always plow right on ahead with life and go on to achieve amazing feats. I use to wonder (and sometimes still do) why you would want to be best friends with me, but I've come to realize we balance each other out perfectly. We fit that cliche that two halves make a whole. You are my other half and I think I am yours because we just get each other and fill the missing places in each other.

You may not always answer your phone, sometimes you are frustratingly hard to get a hold of but when it matters you are there. You have been there every time I have truly needed you and I know you always will be there. I hate and love that you live far away. I hate it because it means you can't always be here when I need you, but love it because it means I can escape and come visit you in all the amazing different places you live. One thing I know for sure is no matter the distance between us our friendship is always there. You are my sister in so many ways that it doesn't matter the distance or how long we go without talking because of our busy lives, you will always be there.

I love you with all my heart and I thank you for asking me to walk home all those years ago. Thank you for introducing me to the many new things that our now favorites in my life. Thank you for making me step out of my comfort zone. Thank you for reminding me how life should be lived. Thank you for always being there. Thank you for including me in your crazy life journey. Most importantly, thank you for always reminding me to be me and loving the crazy person that I am just the way I am. Thank you K for being the sister I never had. No matter what happens in life or where we go you will always be my best friend, my number one, my bb, my sister.

To A:
Our friendship started because I was dating C who is basically like a brother to you. It started out as simply having someone to talk to at family functions and evolved into a friendship that has made you a part of my family. We use to joke that we were each other's number 2 best friends because our number 1 best friend spot was taken. I know you called me your number 2 because I didn't demand your time or make you worry   that I would be mad if you hadn't seen me in a couple weeks. The funny thing is now that we are older we have become each other's "number 1s". You live here with me so you experience my life first hand with me and I yours. It's sometimes hard to explain things to those who aren't around even those closest to you that just live far away, but you always get it because you are usually right there with me. You also understand my crazy relationship and my craziness. We use to go weeks without seeing each other, but now it's weird to me if I go longer than a week without seeing you. Our hangout time just watching movies or pinteresting together is the sanity in my roller coaster life.

 When work, my family, my relationship are all a mess you are always there to help me clean my life up or just help me ignore the mess for a little while. you've become such a huge part of my life that I depend on, I don't know how I would have made it through these months without you. Both of our lives have been a mess, you have been going through so much and it breaks my heart to see you in pain. I know you have been experiencing a wide variety of emotions that you keep to yourself. I think you bottle it up because I think you fear if you ever did let it all out you would fall apart and not be able to get back together again. I want you to know that if you need to fall apart it's okay because I'll be here to pick up the pieces. I would never let you stay broken because you've never let me stay broken. I will always be here for you if you need to cry, yell, go crazy, or just forget about everything and act like stupid 20 year olds. I hope you know I will always be there for you. When you have those days the weight is just too much to bear just pass it to me and I'll take it for awhile so you can breath and have some fun.

You amaze me with how you handle life. I know you may feel that your life is a mess, but I'm amazed at how you survive every obstacle that has been thrown at you. You take life's challenges and deal with them as they happen. After everything life has thrown at you, you are still optimistic, outgoing, caring, loving, and have a passion for life. You have had to deal with so much yet you keep going because it's all you can do. I am so proud and amazed by how strong you are. I sometimes feel weak when I fall apart and I look to your strength to pull myself back together. Your daughter is lucky to have such a strong and amazing mother to look up to. I watched you take on motherhood and succeed like all of the other challenges in life. I can't imagine being a mom so young but you make it work and you always make sure your daughter never doubts for a second how much you love her or what you would sacrifice for her. Don't ever worry that you won't succeed because you have one of the rarest qualities, you know how to deal with life's punches. You'll go far because you know how to take what life gives you and make it work. I admire that about you and try to learn how to apply it to my life.

Don't ever feel that the friendship is not equal or you are somehow taking advantage of me because you don't. You are my family, which means I would do anything to help you out because I know you would do the same for me. I love that you know you can always count on me and ask me for help, because I enjoy being a helpful friend. You could never take advantage of help that is freely offered. Besides I get plenty in return  I get to be an amazing aunt to your beautiful daughter and I get an amazing best friend.You are always there when I need you, you put up with my craziness and depressive fits. You do one of the most important things, which is just hanging out and listening to me that means the world to me. When K moved away I lost that safety of having that person that always understood right down from the street from me. You may not be right down the street but 20 mins is still closer than an 8 hour drive. You provide me with an escape and outlet from my house, which is priceless. Very few people are lucky enough to have that friend where they can just hang out and do nothing even in silence and it isn't awkward. I'm lucky I have you and K I can both do that with.

Thank you for being such an amazing friend. I am so glad you moved home and am thankful for how close we have grown because of you moving back. It's been a roller coaster ride these past few months and I'm glad I had someone by my side to help me get through it. I love you very much. Know that I will always be here for you no matter what you need. Your not alone and you have someone that will always have you and your daughter's back no matter what. Hopefully this year we get what we want and get on track but if not at least we have each other to help get through. Thank you for becoming a part of my family and letting me become a part of yours. In my heart you have become a sister to me and I am so lucky that I have not one but two sisters in my life.

One Night

In a post a couple days ago I mentioned a post I wanted to write about but didn't have the time to do it justice. I wanted to write about my night Thursday night and how one night can make such a difference. Last Thursday I was having a bad day, some things happened that put me in a mood that was having myself question who I was as a person. I would like to mention you should never give someone the power to make you question yourself, but at times it happens. Thursday was one of those days where I was questioning so much about myself; I shouldn't of, but I was. My best friend who knew what was going on decided to invite me out for the night. I initially said yes but as the time of going out approached I started debating back and forth in my head whether I should go. I drove in the direction of where we were going without having decided whether I was actually going or not. I'm very good at psyching myself out and convincing myself  I shouldn't go somewhere. In the end, I told myself to go have one drink and then I could go home. That night going was the best thing I could have done because it put a lot of things in perspective for.

Thursday night, I made a new friend and realized how far me and my best friend have come. It truly is funny how things happen in life and what can bring people closer. At the bar I had a long heart to heart with my best friend's friend. Her and I had talked a couple times before but have never had the talk which sparks a friendship. You know the talk I'm referring to, where you talk about something close to both of you and you learn things about the other that moves you from acquaintances to friends. I shared my story with her and in turn she shared her story with me that made me realize how many people are battling the same issues as I am. It was a relief to share and not feel ashamed or like the other person would think I was crazy. Every emotion or thought I mentioned I knew she understood without any explanation because she has had the same thoughts. In turn, everything she told me I completely understood because I have felt similar. Our talk took us from having a mutual friend to starting a friendship of our own, which was something I very much needed on that particular day. My hope is that it blossoms into a friendship, with the hope that she knows that she has someone that understands and she can always talk too.

Later that night I sat down with my best friend and talked with her about life in general. She took some time to knock some sense into me about not being upset about a certain situation. Our conversation made me realize how far her and I have come as friends. We used to joke that we were each other's number 2 best friend, but as life changes so do friendships. Moments and conversations have happened that have made our friendship evolve to a different level. To me, she is family. Her daughter and her are my family and I would do anything for them. I know she would do the same in return because that's what family does. we both realized that sometimes it takes life changing moments to make you stop and appreciate what you have. That night, she helped me realize just home much I mean to her, which I had always felt insecure about. I have this irrational insecurity, that I am an annoying person and annoying friend. I tend feel like I never do enough for my friends or I am somehow a bad friend or simply just an annoying person that people put up with. Our conversation that night put some of those fears at ease and helped me gain a little bit more confidence in myself. My life changed for the better when her and her daughter moved back home and I am thankful everyday for that. These past  couple of rough months we were there for each others every up and every down, which there were plenty of downs, and we became better friends because of everything.

It's funny how one night, a couple of hours, can change your perspective on life and make you feel like a different person. I started the day out hating myself and doubting everything about myself, but by the end of the night I felt lucky, blessed, and confident in myself. I realized I have something special to offer people. I many not know what I am doing with my life but I do know I am a good person. I am loyal, I am dependable, I am caring, I have a huge heart, and I am a good friend. As I continue this journey to find my path I can walk with the confidence of what I have to offer and with a few good friends by my side to remind me when I forget.

The value of Family

Today I went to dinner with my cousin. We didn't talk about anything serious just ate some delicious sushi and caught up.

yes I like to post pictures of food

  Catching up with my cousin outside of a family function reminded me of the importance of family. Now, I'm not talking about just blood family but those people that are such a huge part of your life that you consider family. My family taught me from an early age that family is not just about blood but people who you love. At Holiday times my mother always has an open table to anyone who needs a place for the holidays. She taught me that no one should be alone and without a family. I'm lucky to have my blood family, my best friend family, my ANTIC family, my sorority family and my extended non-blood family created by my parents. Not many people can say they have that much family in life. Each family fits a different need but the one thing I can count on is that they are always there when I need them. It's cliche but true that family comes in all different shapes and sizes and so on.

So where does family fit in with the great search to find yourself? They are there to be your support, to make you laugh, to knock some sense into you, to give you advice, to be your sounding board. Your family, whoever they are going to give you the tough love you need to keep yourself from letting the struggle and the fight win. My "family" has been there many times to save me from my worst enemy, myself. My blood family has been there to give me the tough love, my best friend family to knock sense into me and just listen to me vent, my ANTIC theater family has been there to make me laugh, and my sorority family has been there to do stupid fun things with and get advice. My families remind me I am never alone, that I don't have to fight by myself. To others out there reading this don't ever be afraid to turn to your "family". No matter who you consider family, if you have deemed them worthy of that title then you should never hesitate to call them when you are in need or just need an ear.

 I know I'm sometimes afraid to reach out to people because I don't want to be a burden with my problems, but when I do reach out it feels so much better then trying to deal with it alone. I have a voice of reason that helps me gain perspective and stops me from beating myself up about all the little things I do wrong. I deal better with all my issues when I choose to let someone in because an outside voice almost always can reach the voice inside me trying to hit the self destruct button. It's never easy to ask for help or reach out to someone, even family, but when you do there is an immediate relief in the action itself.

So take a second of your day and reach out to a member of your "family". Go to dinner, talk on the phone, grab a coffee, whatever. I guarantee that the small action of just talking about nothing with someone you love will make your day a little brighter and give yourself a little more strength to keep fighting to find who you are.