Redheaded Jill

I’ve been thinking about friends lately. I don’t enjoy meeting new people or making new friends. Though, thanks to my best friend, I do have a lot of new friends and they’re wonderful.

Some things that make me appreciate my best friend so much include the following.

• She never lets me be left out. Not of a conversation, not of an invitation, not of an event… She includes me always. Or gives me the option of being included.
• She knows me so well and can see through things. She can tell when I’m exhausted mentally and even though she is a people person she sets aside time and space for just us.
• She is always offering assistance and help. This girl came to my Grandma’s funeral to support me despite having to miss work and going through some really tough times of her own.
• When I say something negative about myself, even when I don’t realize it, she calls me on it. Sometimes it’s uncomfortable, but she does it with kindness. She’ll say, “I see what you did there…” or “I’ve noticed that…”
• She’s my unofficial therapist. I usually tell her about my therapy sessions and she tells me about hers and we share info. Even though we go to therapy for different reasons we can still learn from our varied experiences. She taught me about EMDR and is essentially the reason I’m making such strides in my mental health journey.
• She has encouraged my businesses from day 1, offers help with pictures and website management, and supports my business by placing orders (even though she knows I’d happily give her products for free).
• She introduced me to rodeos. Eternally grateful for this one.

I could make this list an entire book. But on this Thanksgiving Eve I wanted to write about something I’m grateful for.