The Circle of Friends

"Should auld aquaintance be forgot, and never brought to min?" --Robert Burns, Scottish Poet (so that's where that line that came from ;)  As we begin this New Year, I am reflecting on how much I appreciate my circle of friends, "auld" and new. 

When you're a single parent, a lot of times you have to make decisions unilaterally--what school a child should attend; should you move to another town; how to invest your money. However, never forget when you have a big decision to make to utilize your "best" advisors--the ones you have "chosen" to have in your lives, the ones who not only love you but who have your back--your friends. 

I have been blessed with a circle of friends going back decades that have always been there for me (and hopefully I for them). They supported me when I adopted my child, patiently listened to me when I've explained my latest E-Harmony "horror" story (if you've ever been on E-Harmony you may know what I'm talking about :), and given advice when I've needed it, whether when changing jobs or pursing an advanced degree. Their friendship is priceless.

If you're a single parent, please don't feel like you have to go it alone. Your friends are people you can and should count on but they can't help unless you ask. And if you feel you don't have friendships like those, go out and make them but remember it takes two to be friends--you have to be there for them as much as they are there for you. As poet/author Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one; a friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud." And my personal Emerson favorite, "It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them." 

This is a thank you to my circle of friends. Let our friendship be longer than our lives and as deep as our emotions: "I find friendship to be like wine, raw when new, ripened with age, the true old man's milk and restorative cordial."  --Thomas Jefferson

KJ