Won't you be my friend?

Today I realize that I have some pretty amazing friends.
I'm not sure what I did to deserve them all.  Especially when anyone who knows me is well aware that I don't particularly like people.  I'm realizing that I have 3 different types of friends.  Each type is just as important as the next in helping me navigate this crazy life...

Some of my friends are the IRL (in real life) kind of friends.  They are the ones that I sit with and talk to and spend time with.   Those friends are few and far between.  Life with husbands and kids and jobs and aging parents just gets a little to complicated to maintain those IRL friends.  So the IRL friends that I have are life long friends, and we have morphed our friendship into some delicate hybrid of friendship.  We spend way more time communicating via facebook, instagram or texting.  We keep in touch.  We have the contact, but it is very different than our friendship looked even 5 years ago.  But I know without a doubt, if something earth shattering happens in my life  they will come running. I've tested this and found it to be true.  Over and over again they are there. For the big stuff.  No matter how busy life gets.

Then, oddly enough, I have a whole host of virtual friends.  These are people who for whatever reason have gravitated towards me, or I towards them thru social media.  Some of you I have known in various stages of my life, and time and distance has made contact difficult.  Some of you I have never even met in real life.  It saddens me to say this, but there are many "friends" that I know through social media that I probably wouldn't be able to pick out when I pass you in the grocery store.  These friends are the ones that keep me going when my day gets crazy and I just want to scream.  They talk me off the ledge and help me have a little perspective. They pat my hand and tell me it's going to be ok.  They cheer me on when I don't have any more fight.  They send hugs and messages of encouragement from just over the holler and from the other side of the globe.

Then there are my friends that have been brought into my life through another friend, or circumstances.  These friends amaze me the most.  They are quick to respond when I need help.  They are ready to defend me.  They are quick to talk me through the little hiccups that life brings.  They encourage me more than they could ever imagine.  And they go out of their way.  I honestly don't know what I would do without them.  These are the people who take the best part of the IRL friendship and meld it together with virtual friendship.  These are the friends that send you crazy pictures of old men wearing Bermuda shorts and knee socks because they know you will find it as odd as they do.  They are the friends that track down information that you ask about (almost absent mindedly) and report back to you ASAP.  These are the friends that will tell you the things about your kids that you take for granted.  They are also the ones who will make sure that anyone talking about you has the facts straight.

I am so glad that my life has allowed me to know so many different people.  I'm forever thankful to have encouragement from so many of you each and every day, and that all of our technology helps us to all stay a little closer together as we spin around on this big, blue marble.

Love Y'all.  Mean it.