Forever Friends

My Christmas Adventures:

It's been a pretty tough past couple of weeks. Seems like everything I've touched has broken. My car broke down when I drove home for Thanksgiving, then was broken into after I got back to school and my GPS and a backpack full of notes and books were stolen. Then during finals week my computer died. The operating system just completely shut down and all I got was a blank screen with a cursed cursor blinking at the top (thank you PC). I ended up taking less than adequate grades in several classes because all my research for final papers/projects was on my computer. And a bunch of other smaller things just went wrong.

So, I didn't start the holiday season in much of a good mood. And on top of that the holidays have never been a favorite time of the year for my family. Dad always gets depressed because he misses Mom, and he can never buy us presents as money is tight this time of year. H has a birthday right before Christmas, and hates that it always gets forgotten in the rush of the season. S is pretty much ambivalent about it all.

And then there's me. I love Christmas. I always have. While some folks think about all the stuff they won't get, or all the stuff that's gone wrong the past year, I tend to look at all the good stuff happening. I love how people are just nicer at Christmas. All over the world people are celebrating some sort of holiday season. We all celebrate time with family, friends, and the blessings of the year though we do it through the eyes of many cultures and religions. There's just something special about knowing that all over the world people are celebrating together.

This year it was extremely hard for me to get into the Christmas spirit. I've had some disagreements with some folks in my family, and I didn't really want to face them again until the wounds had started to heal. Because I work at a church I ended up spending the holiday break at my apartment instead of home with the family. They ended up coming to visit the grandparents so I did get to spend Christmas day with them. It took until Christmas Eve for me to really get into the spirit of the season. I worked at our church's Christmas Eve service, and after I went over to join my "second family" because it was too late for me to drive to where my Dad and sisters were. TC and JC have a Christmas Eve dinner with all of their family over (who I know through church and other outlets) and I just had an amazing time. For some reason it hit me that even though this year, and particularly this semester, have been incredibly hard I have been surrounded by people who love and care about me. Just to know there are people I can turn to when I'm having a tough day has been the biggest blessing of this year.  I simply sat and took it all in, realizing this was what I loved about Christmas, spending time with those I loved (whether related by blood or not). These people are my family, and I love them dearly. I have many people here in my home-away-from-home that have taken care of me through this past troubling couple of months, and I can never tell them how much they mean to me. Realizing that was probably the best gift I received this Christmas.

"Sometimes in life, you find a special friend. Someone who changes your life just by being a part of it. Someone who makes you laugh until you can't stop. Someone who makes you believe that there really is good in the world. Someone who convinces you that there really is an unlocked door just waiting for you to open it. This is forever friendship. When you're down and the world seems dark and empty, your forever friend lifts you up in spirit and makes that dark and empty world suddenly seem bright and full. Your forever friend gets you through the hard times, the sad times and the confused times. If you turn and walk away, your forever friend follows. If you lose your way, your forever friend guides you and cheers you on. Your forever friend holds your hand and tells you that everything is going to be okay. And if you find such a friend, you feel happy and complete because you need not worry. You have a forever friend, and forever has no end." 
---Unknown