The Best Sort

The best sort of family members to have are the ones that are easy to be with. The ones that you can talk with, laugh with, cry with, tell all your dirtiest jokes to, take out to lunch at the local Mexican restaurant with all your kids and spill things, spit food out on (the kids do that, not me), take to the bathroom 10 times ( again, the kids, not me), and still be happy with. By the way, I am super lucky to have this fine woman as my own personal cousin. She has a wonderful husband who gets along swimmingly with GH and two great daughters. She is also one of those people that I know I could call right now and say, "Hey, I need you here in three hours to watch these kids/take my husband to the ER because I'm gonna hurt him/bring me a six pack of beer and a shoulder to cry on" and she'd say, "Sure. Be right there." Even though she lives three hours away and we don't see each other enough, I know I can count on her. In short, she is what is known as Ideal Family. She's mine, not yours, so you may only look at the pictures and envy me.

Clearly she and my mother got the good genes in the family, leaving me with paltry leftovers. Sigh.

She is my mom's brother's daughter and due to those family dynamics that we all experience from time to time, we did not grow up knowing one another. But we do now, and we make up for it. 

I also have several other fantastic family members but I won't show them to you now because you might die of jealousy. I also have the World's Best Church Family but there is not enough server space for me to show you pictures of all them so let's just sum it all up by saying: I thank the Lord regularly for my church family because I cannot imagine my life without them. They are not just Sunday morning folks; they are Wednesday night folks, Thursday morning folks, Saturday afternoon folks, etc. My Church Family is present and accounted for and I rely on them so much. They are faithful to me and to my family, praying for us, ministering to us, rejoicing with us. Plus, there's a bunch of 'em, so I have lots and lots of people I can (and do) call when I need help. My Church Family is the best sort.

In addition to actual blood family and church family, I have Old School Friends. I'm talking about the kind of friends that you only have if you are really, really lucky. The kind of friends that you can call and say, "Wassup? Do you remember that time we....?" and then you recount the story that happened like fifteen years ago and you both die laughing, remembering how awesome it was and how thin you both were and how you had really great hair back then. These are the kind of friends who never say anything but, "You look great!" when they see you, even though we know that I don't, haven't since childbearing ravaged my body, but they love me enough to say it anyway. These are the kind of friends that challenge me, encourage me, listen to me, and remember important things about me, even though I only see them once or twice a year. I'm lucky to have these friends, even though they aren't the daily kind of friends; Old School Friends are very essential to who I am as a person.

These are not my Old School Friends. These are some of our kids. Please note that I said some. Obviously, my Old School Friends and I have been productive. Some of the children were not cooperative. What can ya do? It's a bunch of kids.

Wassup! Remember that time we.....yeah! I know! It was hilarious! I love you, Old School Friends.

To top it all off, I have my Daily Friends. My Daily Friends are the ones I see daily, or regularly. They are the ones I neglect to take pictures of, not because I don't love them, but because I take it for granted they will be there. My Daily Friends are the backbone of my existence. I need my Daily Friends for lots of reasons, especially because Daily Friends say:"You know, you're going to be all right. It sucks right now, but remember how you got through before?" And my Daily Friends remind me of trials that I've already been through successfully and reassure me that I will make it. My Daily Friends are the ones who text after I've had a bad day, just to check up on me. My Daily Friends are the ones who send me a funny picture on email or a snippet of a movie that they know will make me laugh. My Daily Friends are the ones who come over and help me paint my living room three weeks before I have a baby and I've decided that I can no longer tolerate the yellow walls, they have got to go! One super awesome Daily Friend called last week and said some very blessed words indeed: "I'll come help you finish your kitchen cabinets if you give me a beer." Boy howdy, did I hightail it to Kroger for some Bud light. Come in, friend! Here's your beer and here's a paint brush.

Daily Friends watch my kids, invite me over for dinner, come to my house for lunch and keep their opinions about my housekeeping to themselves, offer to watch my dog when we go on vacation, sew buttons on sweaters for me since we all know that some things are really too difficult to attempt for oneself, arrange museum visits and zoo days, and most of all, have patience and love for me even when I clearly don't deserve either. I would put pictures up of all my Daily Friends, but then you would most likely try to steal them for your own personal Daily Friends, and I am not okay with that. My friends! Mine! Get your own! I need mine too much to share with you! I hope that I am a Daily Friend to someone, because Daily Friends really are the best sort to have.