Gratitude Journal #39

Six days left in the year, and Six Gratitude Entries to go before reaching my goal of 100. I have tried over the year to remember to be grateful for the little things, like the Starbucks employees who start work at 4a, so that when I pull into the drive-thru at 6a, someone is there to make me my Chai tea latte. But the truth is, what I am most grateful for in my life are the people. And so, this last week’s worth of gratitude entries are going to be about the people I am grateful for.

Gratitude Entry #95 – The Ys & the Zs
The Ys and the Zs are family friends. That seems so odd to say. JZ is C’s BFF. They have known each other longer than I have known them. In fact, when I first met C, he and JZ were always together, and I honestly did not know which name went to which person. It took at least a couple of months for me to know who was who. I met MY doing Speech and Debate in college, and it turned out we had a hobby in common, a hobby which led to us meeting C and JZ. The four of us have known each other for over 20 years now. (And oddly, JY & EZ are also old friends.)

MY performed our wedding ceremony for us. JY was our photographer. A few years ago when C had to go to the ER due to chest pains, but I had a 5th and a 6th grader who needed to get to bed, JZ was the one I called to come and sit with C (and bring him home) at the hospital while we waited on the last few tests to come back. 

Due to busy lives, we do not see each other as much as we would like, but we all try to make time when we can. We go to LIVE concerts with the Ys. We go to Star Wars movies with the Zs. 

When things were falling apart in our lives, both the Ys and the Zs were there to hold us up, remind us we had a support network and took the lead in keeping in touch because we did not necessarily have the capacity to do so. 

I wish busy lives and other circumstances allowed us to see more of each other, but no matter how often we actually get to be together, I know that both these families have our backs, and we have theirs.

We are family friends, and I am grateful for them.