That's me. I am a really crappy friend. I never call. I rarely write. You might not even hear from me for years! But it doesn't mean I don't love you and care about you. THAT I'm pretty good at. I'm terrible at returning phone calls. I crab at my boys to call their mother, but I haven't talked to mine since...well, okay I saw her Friday evening, but sometimes it's a whole week! If you are looking for one of those friendships where you do everything together, and are never seen apart, I'm probably not the one you are looking for. I don't have a long enough attention span for stalking, not that you aren't INTERESTING and all!
In fact, I really didn't used to think I had any friends, until a few years ago. My kids used to laugh when I'd say something beginning with," My friends and I are going to..." (Ooh! I almost said Chinn Chinn!) They'd just fall out laughing! "You don't have any friends, Mom! You're a... Mom!" Well, there's something about dying that brings your friends around. It was really a gift, because most people's friends don't rally until the funeral, and I didn't have to have one. I was still here to enjoy the flowers and lasagna. Thanks, all of you, more than you know.
But I do have a group of friends that gets together to roll the dice once a month. This is not a clever euphamism, we play Bunco. Real dice, real rolling. Tonight was my night to host. I made dinner, the Bunco girls came over, we ate, rolled, laughed, watched videos of Lydia's three point shot, and learned a new "Backing Up" song. (Youtube, it's hilarious!) We shared our lives like we have for some time now. At least 11 years, because I missed Bunco the night Harriett was born. In fact, they rolled their last 6's and piled in the car to come up and see me, but they missed visiting hours by just a few minutes! Darn Blasted Sixes!!! I remember we told them we named the baby "Danielle Josephine" after my brother because he was the only one who cared enough to come up there.
But they do care. We have been there for each other through thick and thin. In sickness and in health, and even death doesn't keep us apart, because we have thrown more funeral luncheons than I can count. We've laughed together and cried together, and have even been forced to use some unsavory language in our pursuit of rolling three sixes on the final roll and winning the JACKPOT!!! We bounce ideas off each other, and give each other the confidence to stand up for ourselves. We're also not afraid to stand up for each other, when we don't have the courage to do it ourselves. And for Heaven's sake, what happens at Bunco, stays at Bunco!
We also pray for each other. Not in an organized "let's have prayer time" sort of way, but we each carry away a little piece of each other's pain, and offer it up to our maker. Each lady in her own way, has her own relationship with our Maker. I hope we aren't crappy friends to Jesus. We care about him, and love him and all, but when was the last time you really checked in with him? How's His family? When was the last time you called His mother? He wrote you a really long and detailed love letter. Have you written back? Try it! I'm telling you, it's amazing what happens to your heart when you start writing! Ask yourself what kind of a friend you are being to God. Are you being a Bunco girl? Or a crappy friend?
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