gratitude: day 16

today i'm grateful for friends.

this could be a really long post. a post that might never end. but that's because i've been blessed with amazing friends my entire life. i'm not sure i've done anything to deserve these friend. i truly consider myself blessed.

when i was really little, my family had some great friends. the augers. i smile when i think of the augers. they were our backdoor neighbors for the first 10 years of my life. i'm sure they thought we were strange. we were strange. they were always the cool ones. they had kids the same ages as us plus one more. we celebrated birthdays together. we had sleepovers together. we played in our adjoining backyards together - the gate in the fence was rarely closed. we went on vacations together. we laughed and cried together. and they've been with us through happy and sad for my entire life.

in kindergarten, jared auger couldn't be my best friend anymore. he had cooties, after all. so, along came tangie. tangie and i were inseparable. i think i owe my high academic standards to her. we were so competitive. i remember in 3rd grade, we TIED for third place in a school-wide art contest. we were always comparing math scores, handwriting, spelling tests, hopscotch records and more.

after fourth grade, i moved. i dind't know a soul. and i'm not the most outgoing person in the world. so, it was just my {great} luck that mindee moved across the street. i had lots of good friends in my new neighborhood, but mindee and i were together all. the. time. we had sleepovers on her tramp and made up our own songs. we made up dances to paula abdul and salt n' pepa. we went into young women together. we were so cool.

then i moved. again.

it just so happened that the super cute, popular girls were the ones who ushered me into their 'group.' even though i was the only one in the group who wasn't a cheerleader, school officer or sports star because i moved at the end of 8th grade, i had a great 9th grade year. i moved onto high school with these girls. they're great girls. they always were and still are...but they started hanging out with some people i wasn't comfortable hanging out with. so i was lonely. i spent a good part of my sophomore year hanging out at home. i immersed myself in school, extra curricular activities and singing.

that's when i found megan. words can't adequately describe megan. she was my salvation. so confident. so smart. so beautiful. so fun. so talented. she still is. she's one of the only people from high school that i see every time i go home. she came to help me when leah was born because my mom and ryan's mom couldn't. she's now a fantastic mother of two of the most beautiful little girls i know. i love megan. we were supposed to be roommates at byu, but there was something else in store for meg, so off to provo i went. alone.

but not for long. morg was there. we quickly switched roommate assignments around so we could be in the same dorm room. i taught her how to study and she taught me how to have fun. freshman year was full of photo shoots, n'sync, 1 mile runs, ditching fhe and cleaning checks...and class. i visited morg and her cute, cute family in nyc last year. the girl is still just as fun and kind...and now she's also a wonderful wife and mother of two...almost three.

college brought lots of other really good friends. i really could write for hours. roommates, friends from our married ward. so. many. friends. running partners. friends from callings. work colleagues.

and ryan. he came in college too. and i'm so glad he's my friend. and he brought lots of friends into my life. he has the greatest friends from high school. {so glad i didn't know them then...hehehe}. but i'm so glad i know them now.

then off to california we went and i swear it only got better. julia was there waiting on that first sunday...she said she liked to run and she taught piano. right. like i'd really meet someone like that on my first sunday. and then one by one, i met more and more girls who have become like family to me. wives of ryan's co-workers, mother's group, running friends, so many people. kristen. lindsey. rachel. sarah. and on and on and on.

and through it all, i've come to love my family more and more each day as friends. true friends. my mom especially. and kelli. and scott. and dan. i wish i had always known how cool these guys were. but, i'm glad i know now.

okay, i'd better stop.

but really, i have the greatest friends.

i'm so blessed. truly grateful.