Simple Friends!

“Make new friends but keep the old ones; one is silver and the other's gold” Proverb

My mom says that her friends are her "chosen family." Through the years that idea has become more important to me. Since we live so far from most of our family, we've had to improvise our support group through the years. Until Sonny and Patty moved here, we didn't even have family to share holiday meals with. I remember cooking full Easter ham dinners for Chris and I, and a baby or two. But I also remember sharing my first attempts at a complete Thanksgiving dinner with friends also lacking family to share with. What is a good meal without someone to share it with?

We've had some small and some larger personal disasters happen- and when there isn't family close by to rely on, who do you turn to? With the perfect view of hindsight- I can see how hard some times were with seemingly no one to call, but I can contrast that with those grateful moments when there was someone I (we) could rely on. Whether it was as simple as calling a hairstylist friend after Abigail gave herself a mullet, or having a friend drop everything to take the kids to school when one of us was in an accident, to simply bringing a cute bowl full of chocolate to make me smile even though my basement was flooded, or good friends wanting to throw me a baby shower for my first boy even though it was my fourth child, or even offering to take the girls overnight while I had that boy! I just hope I've been able to reciprocate some of these great and small kindnesses and be as good a friend to them as they have been to me.

When we were in the process of moving to our new home, I was admittedly apprehensive and worried. We had been in our first house for almost seven years, and in that time I had cultivated some great friendships- even though I was only moving a matter of a few miles away (if that), I knew everything would be different. I was worried about how much I would stay in touch with my old friends, how long it would take to make new friends, if I would make any great friends in my new neighborhood- you know, the usual...when I was trying to make myself more optimistic about that aspect of the move, I would tell Chris, who knows, maybe my best friend that I've never met is building next door to us- I was pretty close ;)...now, it's a year later... I can happily say that I've been so blessed with not only maintaining some great old friendships but making some great new friends as well.

I'm also so blessed with such a fabulous family (but that is for a different post), I mention that because I've been lucky to also call many of my family friends. As many of you know, Sonny is Chris' only brother and when he and his wife moved here to Payson at the end of 2004, we were SO excited to finally have some family around! Nevertheless, Patty and I didn't actually know each other that well, and as anyone who has in laws can attest- that can go either way. Lucky for me, Patty is one of the most fabulous, greatest, wonderful people that I know! We've become fast friends and I couldn't ask for a better sister in law! We have so much fun planning and conspiring, even when it overwhelms our husbands which brings me to another random thought. We joke that we are the only ones in the world who could understand each other since we are the only two in the world married to those Maloy boys! (Sorry, Sonny and Chris- but come on, you know what I'm talking about ;) So I am truly grateful for Patty and her friendship!

And exciting for me, my sister Nicole and her family are moving here to Utah next week (another domino has fallen ;). While anyone who shared a seminary class with us can confirm, we didn't always get along perfectly, but for the majority of our lives- we've been very close and are also great friends- I even took her with me when I ran away from home when I was 4 (?). I know this is a big change for them, but am so happy to have them around now too. Our fun and crazy little family gatherings in Utah are growing! Yahoo...

It's interesting to me to see the wonderful friends who have popped into and sometimes out of my life at different times, and how all of them have left their mark on the person that I am today. I've talked, and laughed, and cried, and learned, and grown, and received such a richer and fuller life through the many different and wonderful people that I've been lucky enough to call "friend." And I will continue to try to live up to deserving and reciprocating their friendship.