New Friend, Old Friend

I am appreciative to God for the friends that He sends to me, and I really believe that He sends them. I think about the pocketful of friends that I've gathered throughout my life and I see that each of them has been pivotal in shaping me, supporting me, inspiring me, strengthening me, and making my life more fun. I am lucky in that I have many really good friends, not just one or two, and that they are forgiving to the extent that they stick around in my life and become just as valued as my family.

I am not good on the phone these days. I'm barely hanging on to email, or blog-hopping. I rarely get to leave to travel to see my friends, most of whom live out-of-town, if not out-of-state. I simply am too busy with the tasks of motherhood and homemaking at this particular time. I am consumed with daily work. But my heart is never far away from those I love, and I'm so grateful that (I think!) no one holds it against me for being so out-of-the-loop these days. The great thing about a true friend, is that no matter how much time has gone by, when you finally are able to connect, it's as if not a day has passed you by. You simply pick up where you left off. It's wonderful.

I have a new friend in Angela. I met her a little over a year ago, simply by chance, through our mutual friend, Hilary, at a Time Out for Women event in Long Beach. Hilary is a singer/songwriter and was a performer at the event and had invited me to come as her guest since I live locally. Angela is also her friend, and lived in the same ward as Hilary and had tagged along with her for a fun weekend of Time Out. And since Hilary was on stage much of the program, Angela and I sat next to each other. And we ate together, and we talked. And we exchanged emails. . .and blogs. . .and the rest is history. She's awesome. I love her. It's wonderful to meet someone that you feel like you've known forever and just instantly connect with.

Angela travels with her work and one of the areas she visits is my neck of the woods in CA, so I was thrilled when she let me know she'd be in town and wanted to get together. I put the kids to bed and drove on over to her hotel, where she was stranded through a series of unfortunate events, without a car. We made a quick dash to Target, and then just went back to her hotel and talked for a few hours. Maybe she was disappointed at the lack of thrill involved in spending the evening with a washed-up, worn-out mom as I am, but I thoroughly enjoyed sitting in peace and quiet and talking. With a grownup. With a girlfriend. Nothing like it. She's great. You should go check out her blog and say 'hi!' She even brought me a copy of Hilary's newest CD, which Hilary had signed for me. I had been dying to get my hands on it, so it was a very nice surprise. Good one, Ang. Can't wait till you come out next time!