Friendships

Have you ever stopped to marvel at the number of people who have come in and out of your life?  Did they leave a mark, help make you who you are, or simply disappear? 
Often friendships can be taken for granted.  We start out with either lots of little friends or one "best friend" when we are children; some we maintain, some we lose track of over time.  We go to college or on to work and make friends with classmates or co-workers; but, some of those friendships again disintegrate over time when we graduate or move on to new positions or new companies.  Over the years I have found some of my closest and dearest friends are not necessarily the ones I saw or talked to every day.  But instead, were the ones who I could pick up the phone and call or meet for lunch after no contact for months or even years.  It's amazing how fate steps in and can rejuvenate a friendship.
I ended up in the hospital over 4 years ago to have emergency surgery to remove my appendix which apparently decided it was no longer happy in my body.  I was scared as I had never had surgery even though I had been in the hospital before for the births of 2 children.  I was about to be wheeled off to the surgery room and was saying goodbye to my husband with tears in my eyes (as if it was a major surgery and I'd die), and who would step into the room but a friend I hadn't seen in years.  We were best friends in school and spoke on and off through the years but our schedules were always opposite and it was hard to keep in touch.  I felt that God had sent her as my angel to say everything would be okay (which of course it was).  She was my little blessing.  We tried to stay in touch and she eventually moved to California.  While we are now a far distance apart, we are able to keep in touch through social media.  I value her as one of my closest and longest friends.