Friendships...

Over the years I feel it has become harder and harder to make friends. When you have kids friends who don't and are working become harder to catch up with and it is hard to find people who do have kids. It become easier to meet up with people during the week and you lose interest in going out late on the weekends. So as the years go on it seems a lot of friends are made through or around your kids and it becomes harder to hold onto friends.
I have been lucky over the last year to make some great friends who have become such a big part of our lives. They offer help and support and understand our situation. One of my friends has gone through so much with her own kids that she really does understand and appreciate what our life is like. We catch up whenever we can and we can talk and talk and still have more to say. I feel lucky to have met someone with an appreciation of our situation.
Sometimes friends are made through your kids like meeting parents at school and you just click. One of my new friends is a school Mum and she is amazing. She is the first to offer to help and she means it. It is rare to find someone who offers help and means it. She will go out of her way to help out and having 3 kids of her own it's no mean feat. It means so much that such a genuine person is there for us.
My oldest friend is from high school. We have only had a few periods over the years of not seeing each other regularly. We had kids at different stages and for a short time I even moved away. Through it all we have remained friends. We chat about everything and she was the only one that knew when we were having financial troubles. She has known my family and understands our current situation. She is the only that can understand where we are and why. It was so hard explaining everything that has happened but since we talked I feel so much better. It is amazing to have someone in your life that knows everything about you and still sticks around.

Friends to me balance out our life. They can come and go and change as your circumstances do but some friends are for life.