Because it really is personal…

Here I am, the second day of PMS (tho inexplicabley it’s not raging, it’s just pre-M ickyness) and I am feeling all warm and fuzzy inside, because of the good people all around. To me, blessings are all about relationships, my relationship with God, with my family, and with friends. I don’t really see the surface stuff as a blessing- things like being able to buy a new truck. That’s not a blessing, in my eyes. that’s the result of hard work on SD’s part. His ability to work hard, his smarts, those are blessings, but the truck is a consequence.

Anyway, as the boys left this morning about 10 after 7, they shouted to me “Bye Mom! I love you!” and even tho they do that just about every morning, it pulled me up short today. You read so much about teens out of control, about them hurting their siblings or being just plain awful, and here these boys give me spontaneous hugs and tell me they love me, and come home an hour after curfew then accept the confiscation of their driver’s license with grace. “Wow, mom… I kept it 2 whole weeks this time.”

Even when #1 was deep in the mire of his rebellion, he would still hug me and tell me he loved me.

It really doesn’t get much better than that.

My friends will root for me when I’m on a warpath, but not be afraid to tell me I’m on the wrong warpath if they need to. They’ll point out something obvious that I’ve missed, without making me feel stupid for it. That’s what friends do, and I am richly blessed with good friends like that. Some of them are IRL friends, some are online-only, but it doesn’t matter. The relationships are there, and I believe God gives us a push toward this person or that one for a reason, and if we listen inside, we can tell who we’re to invest the energy in to.

Speaking of online friends, I have met some of the most interesting and diverse people, folks that one wouldn’t ordinarily pair up with a mild-mannered housewife from Georgia such as me. Those folks have taught me alot tho, such as not judging a book by it’s cover, or assuming people are 2 dimensional. These folks are involved in things that I would never consider, and yet, they are interesting, well rounded individuals with more to them than just *that*. I would hope that people would see me the same way, as more than just a recipe-writing housewife. I consider knowing them as a blessing, an opportunity to grow and consider other people’s perspectives.

I am not the sort who has heaps of real-life friends. in fact, I can count my true friends on one hand, but oh, what friends they are. They are unafraid to call me out if they see me doing something wrong, but then they hand me a chocolate, or a rum-and-coke, and compliment my toenail polish. I’ve had one friend (not counting Sweet Daddio, and there’s nothing better than marrying your best friend!) over half my life- 25 years, in fact (Hi! JerseyChick ) and she calls me out on stuff all the time, gently, in her Raised By A Drill Sergeant Grew up On The Jersey Shore Yet Tempered By 25 Years In The South kind of way. That’s the best kind of friend one could have- someone not afraid to say something, but you know she’s not going to stomp off in a huff and blog ugly things about you. I think God put us together 25 years ago for a reason, and it’s because we each need a woman in our lives that we don’t have to tiptoe around.

So, that’s why I’m feeling warm and fuzzy. I really have it good, and I know that. I know I don’t really deserve it, but since when do we ever deserve any of our blessings? If we deserved them, they’d be rewards.