F is for Friends

They come in all shapes, sizes, occupations...species. They are people you went side by side with in school, others you played with in sports that you reconnected with. The person who listens to you everyday at lunch, or just when you really need somebody and they don't even ask to share their load with you.

It can be a stranger who becomes more on a an airplane or in the concourse or passing through your business. A special friend can develop from a chat room, a Facebook group, an author loop or conference and the bond grows.

And no one should cheapen the value of those pets who move through our lives. They leave a mark as deep as any human friend even if they can't talk back - maybe especially so. ;)

DO you have a special friend who gives you a blissful feeling just knowing he or she is in your life, or was?

Check out the other bloggers on the A to Z April Challenge

Friends who inspire

Did you ever have a friend who inspired you to go for it, to try things that you might have thought were out of reach.

I met Angela two years ago. We'd just had two hurricanes, I'd been laid off of my previous job, and had to leave home and go to D.C. for six months to work, far away from my husband and friends. It was one of the hardest things I'd ever done.

Angela was a mature, goal setting 23 yr old who had come from her native Oregon to live with her cousin near D.C. and get a government job. Her goal was to be the first CEO of a Fortune 500 company before the age of 45.

She knew how to move up the government ladder to reach her goals. She inspired me to reach for dreams that I'd thought buried and some I didn't discover until I came home.

It's hard to identify what your dreams might be when you're working 70-80 hours a week, year after year and just living day to day. You have to have time to contemplate, ruminate, and salivate. Ironically, during the only two periods of unemployment in my life, I began to realize my dream of writing.

Since then Angela has been steadily achieving one goal after another. This Sunday she'll become a grade 9. Just three or four years ago, she was a grade 3, and she'll be going to Georgetown University next year for her Masters in Business as well.

Thanks, my friend, for continuing to inspire me.

A New World

A lot is made these days of the bad things that happen on the internet and obvious criminal activities come to mind. In all areas of our lives - there's good and bad. But let's talk about some facets that have changed us for the better, forever, the far reaching opportunities of hooking up to the World Wide Web.

My husband, who is a very physical person, loves the outdoors, fishing, hunting, working in the yard, has been laid up this week due to a strained back with nothing to do but watch TV. He is completely, irrevocably and happily computer illiterate. And disinclined to change. He literally would not touch one to save his life, or mine.

Today, he said, almost wistfully after I'd been online a good while, "A person who knows how to use a computer can stay busy all the time." Like most people who know zip about computer technology he's unaware of the significance of that statement. I thought about it.

I began this morning by checking my online bank statement and transferring funds from one account to another in order to set up payments on credit cards. Then, I checked for refunds on my cell phone bill, posted a message to an online writing class that just completed, ordered a blouse, researched out of state hunting in Nebraska, found the best site to buy shrinkgrip (whatever that is) for his hunting stand and emailed customer service with his questions. Then I arranged for the return of a defective keyboard and ordered stamps from the postal service.

I purchased an ebook, tried to write forward in my current project, found synonyms from Thesaurus.com, and looked up a new recipe on Food Network for lunch. Well, lunch was another story. Then I downloaded pictures from my favorite Navy guy, emailed friends and family, and checked in with my supervisor from work.

But besides how the internet provides for work, research, budgeting, communication with family, and updating software there's a wondrous global advantage.

Last month, I left the bayou in central Louisiana to connect with Lesley, my new editing partner in Canada. An online writing group made us partners, and online chat allowed us to work as if we were neighbors. Thanks, Leah, for technical help, great critiques and for introducing me to your corner of the world.

I got a great partner, but with this global technology, I could have easily wound up with someone from Australia, England, South America or Dubai.

So where are you today and whose life in a distant land have you touched or been touched by?