If you are like me I have friends from all walks of life, they live in assorted places and I met them at different times in my life. I was reminded a few nights ago how special friends are and the bonds we create with them while chatting with a high school friend. The memories made with these special people are always held close to our hearts and generally fill our lives with happiness. Good friends, create great moments that turn into lasting memories which create good mental health. Having good mental health makes everything in the world look and feel better.
When times get tough and the going gets rough it is these wonderful memories that help keep us going. I have memories around cookies, leotards, tracing feet, homemade pie and the list goes on. Some of these memories have become part of everyday live and get relived often while others only appear at special moments or times. Sometimes I can even choose to make the memories appear and grow them with new additions. Many times these great memories include not only my friends but other family members as well.
My children and grandchildren have vivid memories of standing on a piece of paper while I traced their feet so that Auntie Reva, my good friend, could bring them shoes. No one was allowed to go anywhere close to Auntie Reva’s home or work without Chocolate Crackle Cookies to deliver to her and the family. Her two girls have known these cookies since they were small and they are now all grown up but you mention those cookies and their eyes still light up. Very special cookie memories created for not one family but two families.
My friend Diana is my sewing buddy. Our daughters did gymnastics together for many years and our sewing fun started with leotards. If I sewed one for my daughter, her daughter got one and if she sewed one for her daughter, mine got one. The material was cheap and the girls were so small we could get two leotards out of every piece of material we bought. So leotards by the drawer full they had. I would bet that at any given time the girls had twenty leotards each, if not more. Over the years there have been many more sewing projects adding to these great sewing memories.
Then there is my friend Toni. She makes the best pie crust I have ever eaten. Now I do a lot of baking but one of things I can’t make is good pie crust. So one Thanksgiving she and the family come over for dinner with the plan being for me to learn to make Toni’s wonderful pie crust. We start as soon as she got to the house but things quickly went from bad to worse. Soon I was in tears and Toni had taken over because I just can’t do it. Since that day Toni has always made my holiday pies. We call it our holiday trade, she makes my pies and I make her dinner rolls. Everyone is happy and doing what they do best.
It doesn’t matter what you do with these special friends because they will make anything feel special. My friend Debby runs errands with me every weekend. You know she has to be special because who else would go to the grocery store with you and eat Taco Bell for lunch every weekend. Where do good friends fit into your life? Are you creating as many happy memories as you could with them? Is there a way to add to the memories you have already created? Surround yourself with the people that make you happy and minimize your time with the people who don’t. Your attitude and self worth are too important to your well being to be around negative or toxic people. As for me, I am riding down memory lane with my high school friend in his dad’s blue MG convertible remembering that good friends make positively healthy choices everyday!
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