With Friends Like These...

I love my friends. Like, really, when I make a friend I keep them FOREVER! I still have friends that I have known since I was born. I am a very loyal friend. Once we are friends, I've got your back. Friends are really important to me. I love how a real friend can read your thoughts. I love how you can be your really real self around your friends, and they love you anyway. I love how real friends don't judge your parenting, the way you look, or the cleanliness of your house. I love how real friends help you even when you don't ask, and when you do ask, -for something totally unreasonable, they always come through, no questions asked. I love how with real friends you become more like family that just friends (though I'm blessed that many of my friends ARE family) I mean, think about it, when your world falls apart, who do you call? When the most exciting thing EVER happens, who do you call? Your friends. They are the ones that help you through life. Without my friends, I wouldn't be able to make it. My friends have been the ones who have carried me through the toughest part of my life, when I couldn't stand on my own, and the ones that screamed and jumped up and down and did the crazy dance with me at those moments when life is the best. I take my friendships very seriously. It takes some extra effort, but it is worth it in the end, because it matters that much to me.

I have been really blessed that several of my good friends married people that I have become really good friends with as well. (You know how sometimes you have a friend, but you CANT STAND her husband, so you never do things with their family? Yeah, that isn't my problem.) It's rare, but I actually love their spouses as much (if not more sometimes;) than the original friend. That is the case with Levi and Jeremy. I have been friends with them since I was in 8th grade. (that's a LOOOONG time, people, I'm getting old here!) Jeremy was like the big brother I never had, and Levi was my very best friend in high school. I love those guys. And then they went and got married. That was a little scary, because you never know how the wife is going to feel about some crazy lady hanging around their husband. But these ladies are amazing. They don't mind me and my intense family coming in and crashing the party. Stacy doesn't mind that I practically lived at her house all summer, and brought my kids over to eat all of her pudding. In fact, she keeps inviting us back. Cassie doesn't mind that I call her husband at crazy hours of the night to talk about nothing, in fact she often joins in on the conversation. (She's usually the one that keeps us under control, she's the "grown up", we need her) I am so lucky to have these ladies in my life. I don't even know how I functioned without them. They really are two of my very best friends. When we were desperately fighting our adoption battle, who fasted and prayed and cried with us? And who was sitting right there next to us as we were sealed as a family in the temple? Who stayed late and cleaned up the after party following the sealing celebration? Who was right beside me when my smart mouth nearly got us raped and plundered by that cop in Mexico? And just a few months ago, when my life turned completely upside down in the blink of an eye, and I didn't know if I was going to survive it, who did I call to tell me that everything was going to be alright? See, these ladies are my rock. I need them. Those two boys I love so much were really smart (and super lucky) when they picked these girls to be their wives. They are great. Everyone should be so lucky as me, to have them in my life.

That being said, they are also very committed to helping me find a new husband. They keep me in mind all the time, and are constantly on the look out for husband #2. Just a couple of weeks ago I was at Levi and Cassie's for movie night when the subject of finding me a man came up once again. Cassie said that she saw an ad in the newspaper of a single man with two children seeking a wife. Of course she instantly thought of me! What a good friend, right?

Then last Saturday we were at the community potato patch, helping with the harvest, when a nice older gentleman stopped by handing out pamphlets for his son who is running for county sheriff. Stacy, being the great friend that she is, takes one look at his picture, and pipes up (Loud enough for the ENTIRE COMMUNITY to hear, I might add!) "Hey, he's good looking! Is he single? Because KATIE over here is looking for a husband!" Sadly, he is already married, so I guess I'm out of luck. But wasn't she nice to ask? I'm really lucky to have these good friends who have my back. And though, I don't think I'm quite as desperate as they apparently think I am, it really is reassuring to know that somebody out there cares about my future happiness. So, thanks girls. Keep up the good work. I hope you know how much I love you both:)