Friendship is born . . .

At that moment when one person says to another,
"What! You too? I thought I was the only one!"


Yup the header's another quote! Bragging points/rights will be handed out to those who know who said it without looking it up! I'll tell who it is tomorrow! ;)

I was thinking today about friendship, and the fact that I am blessed to have several really close people I can say that about in my life. Two of them are writers (surprise surprise) and both of them are better at this craft than I.

One's mind runs so close to my own thought process it's not unusual for me to cry out at some point *out* during a discussion of characters and where a story the one of us is working on needs to go. *OUT* means 'get out of my head, and back into your own'. It usually leads to comments like 'no there are cheese curls in here yum!' or 'I'm not done bouncing on the couch yet' or 'only if I can take so-and-so with me' to which the answers are all ways 'no! I was saving the cheese curls for later' followed by 'stop bouncing on the couch' and 'No you may not take so-and-so because they are finally something more than a paper tiger.'

Anyway, this particular individual makes me work harder at my character building (something I have trouble doing) and pushes me to develop my worlds and draw maps and think about the environment the characters are going to inhabit> They beg to know more about the worlds/people/places and do not allow me to give up on a character or an idea merely because it's hard. They are the perfect audience, all ways wanting more, all ways demanding more, all ways pushing me to be better than before. Add to that a faith in Christ that kindles mine when it flags, a sense of confidence and poise that I know I lack, and a keen intellect that seeks out challenges where I fall back and you have one of the best gifts I have been given the privilege of calling friend. I'd put their name in here if I dared but their head is probably big enough as is and I don't want it to get any larger. It'd be terrible if they could no longer fit through the doorways or drive their car!

The other friend too has the keys to the back door of my mind and has blatantly walked in to snitch candy bars, pilfer the reading materials there and has on several occasion walked out with characters of mine and the T.V. remote. They also spur me on to better things, though instead of clamoring for information on what I am working on, they share their own and provoke me to jealousy so I run home and work on my story. They are the one that can quicker than anyone else, make me laugh at myself, at whatever nasty thing has happened to me that day, and prick me to remember that its' not all about me and it isn't all my fault when something goes horribly horribly wrong.

I don't know what sad state I would be in had I never met this dynamic pair, and thankfully I will never know!

So my challenge for you this week is to tell your friends (as I will ) that you are grateful for their friendship (in whatever non sappy way you can manage) and if you like, to share your thoughts on friendship where ever you blog.