That's What Friends Are For...

So I was thinking about my friends today. I can't begin to explain what they mean to me. I have family but they have never really been there for me. So as a result they don't know me. They can't understand the struggles I face or the dilemmas of being me.

Yes my family understands to some degree who I am because I believe that we are who we are in part because of they life we have had. It is our choice to live good or bad. To take life and be the change we want to be. For that reason my family knows "me" But they dont really know the "me" I have become.

My friends on the other hand get it. I can call them and talk to them about my life. What I feel and they get it. Because they have a vested interest in me. In who I am and why I am feeling what I feel and why I get upset or where my joy comes from .. which BTW it is only through Jesus I have any joy. 

When my girls were little I tried very hard to instill in them that family was and always will be important. That I would be there for them, that I would always help them when I could. Somewhere along the lines that line has become very blurry. In some cases I feel let down by the lack of family they care about, and the abundance of non family they do.

In my case it was and is different. I never had that deep sense of family. The knowing my mother would be there or my father, for that matter that I could call one of my siblings and talk like we cared about each other. But its not how I raised my children. So when they do foolish things and make each other upset about things they can control it upsets me.

So when I was thinking about this maybe the thing I really want is for them to see each other as something more. As being there for each other. Having a relationship that takes commitment, stamina, understanding, love and knowing they can count on you.

To all my friends ..and my children and grandchildren.. this is for you ..

That's What Friends Are For

And I never thought I'd feel this way
And as far as I'm concerned
I'm glad I got the chance to say
That I do believe I love you

And if I should ever go away
Well, then close your eyes and try to feel
The way we do today
And then if you can remember

Keep smilin', keep shinin'
Knowin' you can always count on me, for sure
That's what friends are for
For good times and bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for

Well, you came and opened me
And now there's so much more I see
And so by the way I thank you

Whoa, and then for the times when we're apart
Well, then close your eyes and know
These words are comin' from my heart
And then if you can remember, oh

Keep smiling, keep shining
Knowing you can always count on me, for sure
That's what friends are for
In good times, in bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
Oh, that's what friends are for

Whoa... oh... oh... keep smilin', keep shinin'
Knowin' you can always count on me, for sure
That's what friends are for
For good times and bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for

Keep smilin', keep shinin'
Knowin' you can always count on me, oh, for sure
'Cause I tell you that's what friends are for
For good times and for bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for (That's what friends are for)

On me, for sure
That's what friends are for
Keep smilin', keep shinin'

As The Twig Is Bent

This is one of my favorite poems ever. I know I have felt this. I hope my children never have. 

AS THE TWIG IS BENT

 ~ author unknown
 

The child stood sadly looking down,
Staring at something on the ground.
Her mother's words were harsh and sharp;
She felt them tearing her apart.

 

The silent tears rolled down her cheek,
But still she stood, mute and meek.
She knew somehow she was rejected,
Although physically, she was not neglected.

 

She wasn't yet in her teens,
Just a tomboy, in blue jeans.
She had learned to live with pain;
Throughout her days, it would remain.

 

Again her mind wondered, "Why?"
Perhaps she'd know, by and by.
There must be something awfully wrong,
She guessed she'd known it all along.

 

Maybe it was her own plain looks,
She'd read of it in some books.
How to a mother of unusual beauty,
Her plain child might be an unwanted duty.

 

But her mother was so fair,
If there was any trouble there,
The fault must surely be her own,
Oh, how she wished that she was grown.

 

Then she would go away and hide,
While her heart just ached and cried.
Finally the hurting words had ceased,
>From their cruel blows she was released.

 

So she turned and walked away,
She knew better than to stay.
In her room she closed her door,
And cried 'till she could cry no more.

 

Then she prepared herself for bed,
Washed her face, with eyes so red.
She wished her Mom would hug her tight.
And, just once, kiss her goodnight.

 

At last she crawled into her bed;
Silently, her prayers were said.
"Please, Lord, just let Mom love me,
And, oh, so good I'll always be."

 

The years have passed, the scene has changed,
Mother and daughter still remain.
The mother now is growing old,
The child, once warm, has grown so cold.

 

Somehow, the roles are now reversed,
The mother's last, The daughter's first,
The beauty, too, has been exchanged.
It seems that nature rearranged.

 

The child, now grown, has beauty fair,
There is none other to compare,
While the mother has grown old and gray,
Her loveliness has passed away.

 

The mother looks up at her, now grown, child,
And tries to please her, with a smile.
But the daughter coldly turns away,
She's much too busy to stop today.

 

Let the old lady sit awhile,
She's not about to change her style.
She walks out, with no good-bye,
And the old mother starts to cry.

 

Oh, if she could only just erase,
The coldness from her daughter's face.
If she'd just come and hug her tight,
And kiss her withered face goodnight.

 

If those lost years she could recall,
She'd live them over, one and all.
She'd give the love, she now so longs to get,
And then be rid of this regret.

 

But she knows, this can't be so.
Years don't come back, once they go.
So she must live with being spurned,
The things she taught, were so well learned.

 

So I leave you, with this thought:
Please take heed, least you get caught.
Live long enough and you will see,
As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.