November 19 – I am Grateful for…

Day 19… November 19

Today I am thankful for friends.

I will start with my “birthday twins” friends.

I have 2 friends that are near and dear to me who both have birthdays today.

The first one I met in 2005. We both had boys in the 5th grade together, boys in the 3rd grade together, a daughter for me and another son for her in the 1st grade who played on the same baseball team, other small children and we were both pregnant with our 6th kids. We both had daughters that year. 🙂

Though we were both members of the same church, we were in different congregations. We got to know each other through the elementary school and the baseball team and it was fun to make that connection.

Fast forward about 20 months and we were now in the same congregation for church due to some boundary realignments. (Our congregations are determined by geographical locations) It was nice to have a familiar face in this “new to us” congregation.

I am so grateful for her and love her dearly. We have both gone through a lot over the past 17 years and I am so glad we still connect. (We need to do lunch soon!!)

The second of the “birthday twins” is my dear friend, Brigitte. To many, it might seem like an unlikely friendship. Today she turned 94!!!!

She is an amazing woman with a fantastic sense of humor. And she has been through and experienced some pretty amazing things.

Born in 1928, her mother died 8 days later from an infection transferred from the midwife. Soon she was adopted by her maternal uncle and aunt and raised in Berlin, Germany.

She didn’t learn that she was adopted until she was 14 yrs old and her mother and father (aunt and uncle) still never said a word about it but acted as though it was not a thing.

I love Brigitte for so many reasons. And I am amazed by the life she has lead. From Nazi Germany to England to be a nanny, to the United States where she joined the military to receive her citizenship faster, she has amazing and heartbreaking stories to share.

I know that at age 94 time with her is a gift for me that I don’t know how long it will last, but I want to take advantage of it every chance I get!

So “Happiest of Birthdays” to my birthday twins!

There are so many wonderful friends that have blessed my life so much.

• My kid’s friend’s moms who have become so dear to me – and the mom’s that I wanted to be my friends so we led our kids to be friends 🙂
• My neighbors that have become friends
• My friends that are in my church congregation
• The friends that I decided on and made them be friends with me 😛
• New friends that I have made through this world of coaching – the process of becoming a coach, meeting others on the same path, working with The Life Coach School, as well as my coaches who continue to help me grow and develop my skills
• My “new” book group friends – It is fun to get back together after a long break for some reason I forget…..something that starts with a “C”?
• My two most dear friends that have helped me survive high school, junior high, and elementary school as our kids did it together, brought me so much laughter and joy at the bus stop, shared and helped me carry frustrations, and broadened my perspectives on the world – Anne and Nina, I love you!!
• My “old” book group friends – I mentioned them in my post about books. “Prose before Bros” (a recently adopted name due to some of us relating a little too close to any name with the word “old” in it!) has been meeting for around 20 years.

There are friends, there is family, and then there are friends who become family.

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A true friend accepts you for who you are, but also helps you become who you should be.

Unknown

Brigitte

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I’m Michelle. I am learning how to minimize my overwhelm, perfectionism, and people-pleasing and I am ready to help you do the same. I’m a certified Life Coach and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Come with me and learn how.

As one of these women said once, “I will always love these women because we “grew up” as parents together.”