Blessings

Today while lying in bed, I thought about how blessed I am to have such a great, loving family and how blessed I am to have really wonderful friends who I know I can count on no matter what.

My dad's right, we may not have a lot of money, we may not have a big house or a nice car and we may not be able to afford nice things all the time but we have each other and to us, it is everything. I think about how we don't get to choose the families we are born into and I look at mine and I appreciate it all the more. I know I am lucky because not everyone gets to go home to a family like mine. I am lucky because I get a big hug from my brother almost everynight before I go to bed and I love yelling "Goodnight!" right before I enter my room and hearing 4 different voices greet me back even when they are busy. I love that when things are tough and when I'm upset or discouraged or anxious, that I have a family that listens and doesn't mind staying up late just so I can rant and get everything out of my chest.

Not only do I have a great family, but I am also blessed with such amazing friends who I may not see all the time and who I am not able to talk to as much as I want but everytime I need them, they are always there. Just the other day I was really upset about something and my first instinct was to go online and a very close friend happened to be online at the same time. I just started talking and venting and he was so patient eventhough it was midnight his time and he was probably tired and sleepy already. What touched me the most was the fact that he made sure I was ok before signing off. They're not great friends because they always agree with me and they're not great just because they're pretty or funny or smart... they're great because they really listen and not feel the need to always give advice or solve my problems, they're patient even when I am being unreasonable, they don't judge me even when I make mistakes and they tell me when I am wrong. I respect them because I know I can trust them to tell me when I'm being an idiot or being inconsiderate. I like that when I confide in them, I don't need to remind them to keep it to themselves.

There are different ways to measure success in our lives... and each person's idea of happiness and fulfillment varies. But to me, it will always be the people in my life that make all the difference. They will always be what matters most to me.