"And The Card Attached Would Say..."

"...Thank you for being a friend!"

I have truly been blessed with the gift of friendship. I will admit that often times I take this for granted and forget that friendship is a two way street...forget that I have so many really great friends because at some point I showed myself to be "friendly." And...in order to maintain these friendships, I have to continue to do just that.

About a month ago, I made a list of about fifteen of my friends/associates with whom I have lost touch. My goal was that by the end of the week I would have touched base with each one of them via phone and/or e-mail. I only e-mailed three of them.

Part of me feels like I deserve a pass for falling out of touch considering the emotional trauma I have been experiencing. As understandable and true as this may be, it's not the case for at least seven of my dearest friends...two of which don't even know of my current circumstances. These are the the true blue, ace boon coon, "my man 50 grand" type friends..."ride or die" type friends. Unfortunately, as of late, I have not been treating them as such.

Friends and friendship mean a lot to me and there is no excuse for not checkin' in on folks once in a while if they truly mean something to you. I am ashamed of the type of friend that I have been to certain people in my life and I need to do better. I figure if I put this out into the universe, that someone will be holding me accountable for keeping my word.

Sometimes it's not until you hit a valley in your life that you realize how important it is to have good friends. If you haven't stayed in touch though, you feel like you don't have the right to call them now that you are in the midst of a crisis. Luckily enough, I don't have to worry about this too much because no matter how far I fall off the map, my friends are always there for me. Sure, they give me grief...tell me how triflin' I am...but by the end of the conversation/e-mail they have assumed the position of confidant, counselor, comforter and comic relief. And for that, I am grateful.

However, I never want to assume that this will always be the case. Everyone has there breaking point...I know this because I reached mine with a certain friend many years ago and was forced to end the friendship.

So I am pledging (and if you are in the same boat as me with anyone that you call "friend" feel free to join me) that by the end of this month I will have made contact with everyone on my original list...especially the EXTRA special friends.

Friendship is not a given in life. It truly is a gift, and I want be sure that I remain a worthy recipient.