Thursday, April 5, 2012

“A good friend is a connection to life, a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world.”

It has definitely been a while since I've taken the time to blog about something/someone/somewhere. Always seems like there is never enough time to get what you want to do done. But luckily, I'm back! (And procrastinating on two presentations that are on Monday and Tuesday... yikes.)

As per my past blog posts, I always try to write about something positive. The past few months have been stressful for me (as well as a lot of people I know), so it's been hard to find something positive to write about. I meant to talk about the Louisville Cardinals' wonderful March (Big East Champs, Final Four), but c'est la vie. Very proud of that team though. However, I received excellent news from a friend today. She is about to start residency rotations, and was looking at hospitals all over. Living in Pikeville, KY, I don't get to see her very often, but when I do it's definitely worth it. I received a text from her this morning saying that one of her rotations was going to be in Cincinnati, at Good Samaritan Hospital. Of course I'm SO excited for her and her residency audition. Add that to the location of the hospital (right down the road from campus), and it makes it even better.

Thinking of one friend got me thinking about other friends, and then just about friendship in general. I cannot be thankful enough for the friends I have. Whether it's new friends I've made in the graduate program, my college friends, my high school friends, my grade school friends... we've all been through so much together, and it's made everyday so fantastic. Yes, we've had our share of bad days (who hasn't?), but it was much more fun to bitch and complain about it, and then later look back and think how it really wasn't that bad.

You go through life, and you meet people that will come and go without warning. But the ones you keep close to you, those will get through anything life throws at you. Don't be grateful for those special to you. Tell them you love them, you are thinking about them, you miss them. Send them a text, an email, a card, a cookie bouquet (okay, you don't have to, but it's nice if you do). Buy them a drink without expecting one in return. Leave them a note on their car, in their cubicle. Make sure you always tell people that you do care about them. You never know when it could brighten their day.

It's easy to look at what's hard in life, but the nice boost of happiness you feel when you're with people you call friends makes everything that much easier. I wouldn't be anywhere close to where I am today without the support of my friends (and family). I owe these people so much, and I don't mind having to "repay" for ... forever, really. It'll be fun doing it.

"A Hug is worth a thousand words; A Friend is worth more."