People

It's been a wild past few days so forgive me if I already posted any of this. I actually have some good stories and will hopefully have some time at home over the Thanksgiving break. I just had a few minutes after supper while Steve took Anthony to basketball practice and before Riley's concert at 7pm.

But I wanted to be sure to mention that I have really awesome friends! There are some people in life that want to hang around for a while but the more they know about you or tougher life gets, they are suddenly very hard to find.

When I was younger, I always had one best friend. Or at least one in each city. My best Flandreau/school friend in grade school was Jana and my best church/Brookings friend was Marin. When I got to middle school, my best Flandreau/school friend was Angie. They were great friends, don't get me wrong, but the older I get, the more I am realizing that so many different people have so much to offer. No one person can be the 'perfect friend' but I have so many amazing friends that I can go to when I need different things. The past few days have been really tough but have been made so much better by the various people in my life who add so much personality.

Friday night I got out of the house for a few hours and met up with some friends for a girls night out. We usually try to have an excuse to get together, like a birthday or something. No one had anything to celebrate but Amy made us come anyway. Fun night!

Then the laugher therapy group that usually meets on Sunday morning was bumped to Sunday afternoon. We ended up laughing so hard we cried. Seriously. I'm not allowed to blog about it because everyone knows that what happens at Chocolatte stays at Chocolatte. However, it's not an invite-only group. Anyone is welcome. We even allow men sometimes. So if you're ever in Brookings on a Sunday morning around 10:30am, come on in and see what all the fun is about. One week I saw a lady looking at the menu board looking confused. I helped her figure out what she wanted and in the course of the conversation, realized that she was only there because she was killing time until KFC opened and she could pick up her lunch. So I invited her to our table and made her join in the fun. Told you anyone is welcome! :)

Monday evening, Steve scored tickets to the SDSU Jacks basketball game so we had a date. While there, I got to sit with one of my all-time favorite people, Sandy. We laughed, we cheered and she even let me cry on her shoulder for a bit. Love her!

Then this morning, I found my way to the church coffee shop with Jen and we chatted on the couches. One of Erick's friend's sought me out and we visited for a while. She is really struggling. I did little more than be empathetic but she seemed to need to talk about him and express some strong emotions to someone that understood the situation. After she left, more and more gals kept joining in at our circle of couches. I didn't know most of them but I sure did by the time we left!

Then the highlight of my morning was hanging out with Val at my house. My only regret is that our hour went way too fast! I can't wait to have her over again.

Didn't I tell you that I have an amazing group of friends?  

PS to Sarah: I did see your question and I'm not ignoring you, I just haven't had time to give the answer the attention it needs. I'm hoping to send you a private message in the next few days.