girlfriends

 I am currently reading a book that has me a bit absorbed.  I was reading in it a few days ago and I read a few paragraphs that hit me pretty hard.  They talked about relationships.  The book said that no relationship we make and develop with someone else is a coincidence.  It is divinely planned and arranged by our Father in Heaven.  He knows how we need to grow, qualities we need to develop, knowledge we need to gain, tests we need to pass or even possibly fail, how we can be helped by a particular someone, and how we can help someone as well.

I have always valued the good people in my life and thought that I have something to learn from all of them, but I never really understood that God put them in my life on purpose, for a reason I can't understand.  He knows me and you, and he loves us more than we can begin to understand.  He knows what experiences will make us better people, and He knows what people to put in our path to help us be better people as well.

I value all the relationships I have had so far in my little life.  Great parents, siblings, in-laws, cousins, childhood friends, high school friends (they happen to be the same childhood friends!), college friends, people from all the LDS wards we have lived in, work friends, neighborhood friends, etc.  As I type, I am thinking of folks in particular and all the great people that I have had the pleasure of knowing, playing with, working with, serving with, and living with.  It makes a big lump form in my throat.

 

 So this is a little shout out to the girlfriends I have had in my life.  Thanks girls.  I hope your association with me has been as good as my association with you.  I thank Heaven that you were placed in my life on purpose, because God knew we need each other. 

Debbie, Emiko, and Stephanie Horn - I can't find a good picture, but I love you just the same!  TORI and MOM - you are your own category.  You are my girlfriends, but since we share the same crazy genetics, you are bound to me no matter what!  Ladies, thanks for everything you have taught me, and all that I still need to learn.  Our friendship was destiny.