Good friends...

I've been doing a LOT of thinking lately. My mind never seems to shut down. I hate it. Actually, I don't really hate it. It can just get frustrating to never have quiet. I guess that's what happens when your life, as you know it, is all topsy-turvy.

Last night, as I lay in bed listening to the rain pounding down on the rooftops, I thought about my friends. My good friends, my bad friends, my old friends, my new friends, my no-longer-friends friends. The list goes on & on.

I came to the conclusion that no matter how alone I think I might be, all I would ever have to do is pick up the phone, and poof...I'm no longer alone. I know that one of my girlfriends (or guy friends, in some cases) will always be there for me in my times of need. I have forgotten that sometimes in the past.

When in a relationship, you can forget many things. Who you are, who your friends are, how to keep in touch with your friends...I admit it, I've done it. I can't think of many people involved with someone who haven't done this. The real test is...will those friends still be there for you after it all breaks down...will they be there to help you pick up the pieces, to listen to you cry, to take you out and get you slobbering drunk and then take away your cell phone so that you don't make any of those embarrassing 1 a.m. phone calls to your ex??

Your real friends will...I've come to learn this. My friends have been there for me through all of this. They've called just to see how I am doing, listened to me yammer on forever some nights, taken me out to distract me, stopped me from sitting at home alone feeling sorry for myself (although, I admit, that hasn't happened very often this time). They've stroked my ego, telling me that I will find someone that is worthy of me, that I am a great person...all of those things that you like to hear to bounce back from it. And some of it might even be true! ;-)

It's nice to have true friends. So very, very nice. I wonder what I would do without my girls. Who would be there to:

- watch Sex & the City with me on hungover Sundays?
- pose in silly pictures for me at the drop of a hat?
- sneak smokes with me in the bathroom at the bar?
- tell me that I shouldn't be sneaking smokes in the bathroom at the bar?
- give me perverted lap dances?
- go for drinks on Thursday nights at Brewster's?
- send me funny e-mails?
- read my many, many funny e-mails?
- make me go to the gym when I don't want to?
- listen to Jesse's Girl over and over and still want to dance with me?
- come to Vegas with me and get crazy?
- run screaming to the dance floor whenever "Shook Me All Night Long" is played?
- call me from the bar, drunk as skunks?
- not get mad when I do the same?
- be there for me?
- let me be there for them?

There are so many other things that my girls do...all of you have read something in that list and know that I am speaking of you. And for that, I thank you. Without all of you, I wouldn't be the person I am today. And that just wouldn't do.

Love you.