The Good Stuff (or the Karma of Friends)

I think we all take for granted the small and insignificant things in our lives, like just playing outside in the water on a hot day in summer.  I think that being a parent you learn to appreciate things in a way that you may never have before.  I think that children can inspire us and move us in ways that we never knew possible.  I think that if you wait long enough for the "good stuff" that you are rewarded with really great stuff.

I am so lucky to have so many friends that I lean on in many different ways and who are a fountain of strength for my insecurities about, well, honestly anything and everything.  We have been through the trials and tribulations of college, grad/law school,  marriages, babies and a host of other events (both significant and insignificant) together.  We have discussed the pros and cons of everything from TV shows to new relationships and babies.  I can barely think of a time when these friends were not at a event either in person or in spirit, always cheering me on and wanting the best, whatever that was (or is).

Now that I am a mother, it's so good to see them and get another dose of their perspective and support.  Sharing with them my fears and crazy indulged fantasies of the worst case scenario as we prepare for Teddy's endoscopy on Wednesday made me so much stronger for this week.  You see, they helped me work through my fears in a way that I could voice them and hear them reasoned out without sounding crazy.  It's those moments with your friends that is the Good Stuff, dear Teddy.  The reward of being a good friend is having really great friends who love you unconditionally (faults and all) and support you with the truth (the good, bad and ugly), all the while making you feel loved and appreciated (thank you, thank you, thank you).  That is really Good Stuff and I am so lucky to have that, which is less a testament of me as a friend and just another way that I am blessed beyond measure.

You are going to wonder one day why I kept this crazy blog and who all these people are in the crazy photo books that I made for you.  I am here to tell you that each person in this blog (either in photo, name, spirit or otherwise) has shaped your Mother as a mother and has truly been part of your life from, well, before you were born.  You are so lucky that I somehow had this crazy wild idea to go to UVA I mean even now looking back it sounds sort of crazy for that girl then), join a sorority (Chi Omega, pearl girl at your service), then work in Richmond at Capital One for a year, move to Miami for law school, then Dallas for work, marry your Father (that is a story for a whole other post son, way too many things there), move to Alexandria and have you.  So many insignificant moments led me to that and so many people participated in each of those stages in ways that I cannot even individually recount, but it all matters because it all led me to you, my love.  You are the Good Stuff, you are what makes it fun to wake up and see what the day brings and dream about the future.  Your Father and I have a whole life built on fate working so mysteriously and all the contributions of these people helped us get to you, and for that, we are eternally grateful.

To my friends, both far and near, thank you for shaping me, as a person and a mother.  I am forever grateful for everything and love you dearly.