Friends....

I have to teach RS tomorrow and it usually takes me a little time and a bit of reading and then I quickly have an idea to take me through. But, for some reason, this lesson has been hard to plan for. The topic, essentially, is Friends.
I've got friends! I have great, wonderful friends. Most of them are related to me, and few survive the days with me, and a couple just shower me with licks. I was lucky enough to meet my best friends the day I was born, and spend all 29 years of my life hanging out with them - from Barbies to Backpacks, Thrift Town to Kick the Can... my sisters, and my cousins, have all been there. I recently found a picture of Jamie, Heidi, Belinda and I dressed up in sweats with fabric tied all around our heads, arms, etc. While I don't know what we were doing with fabric, I do know the caption on the picture was right "Best Friends". I spent a lot of my childhood passing up play dates, missing birthday parties, and avoiding friend sleepovers because I always had my sisters and cousins to play with, celebrate, and sleep-over (especially with Jamie's ability to spontaneously cry). I think this hurt me a bit in Jr. High when we were all in our "too cool" stage (Jamie is very familiar with mine). I didn't know how to make friends well and only gathered a select few that I ever really connected with. And of those few, I'm still friends with most.
As an adult, I still choose family over 'friends' often because they double as both. And although we rarely play Barbies (yes, that's rarely - you can't just leave Barbies naked!!) my family will always be the core of my friend group. I am also lucky enough to be married to my best friend. I never realized that my husband really would be a BEST friend, but we giggle like school girls, and have inside jokes, we can spontaneously start laughing with a single hand gesture, we listen and talk for hours (the joys of no children...).
It's been interesting in the last few years as life has become more crowded with things to do and my time to hang out with my sisters and cousins has grown slim, I have learned to make 'other' friends. I have the funnest girls at school who get me giggling every day, and accept my inner nerdiness. I've come to appreciate having friends who understand my profession and don't mind ranting over kids, and talking about curriculum as we hike up the mountainside.
So, I guess that's my problem, I have great friends. All around me, and so how do I make that a lesson? "Friends are awesome, let me tell you how great mine are!" I don't think that will work. I'll think of something, going to have to. But just wanted to let you all know that I'm thinking of you, and I am grateful to have had all sorts of friends in my life.