The Things that Make it All Worth It

Family is very important.  At church the importance of family is always getting pushed into our faces and as a teenager I feel like I am frequently told things along the lines of, "Family is what's important.  Don't worry about your friends cause you're not going to know them in a few years and family is what you're going to hold on to."  That is true to an extent.  And I'm not bagging on family, but I wanted to talk about the importance of friends and what an impact they have on our lives.  Mom and I were talking about this Monday morning as we drove to or from seminary (I forget which).  And I forget exactly how it came up, but I think it was something about how supportive all our friends have been with Motordogs.  People in our ward in Pasadena we weren't even extremely close to have come to eat, inquire and praise.  I feel like I have the best friends in the world.  All of them.  From so many different circles, so many varieties.  I have friends from lots of different church circles, homeschool groups and friends of those friends that have then become really good friends of mine!  And they all love and support me so much, through school, seminary, theater groups....  My friend Francesca (whom I take my Shakespeare class with, taught by her mom) and her family are such good friends of ours.  I love her and her little brother (who is 10) to death and I can't believe I've barely known them a year!  I can't imagine my life without them!  When mom and I were talking about this she declared life would be impossible to live without friends.  It's impossible without family and it's impossible to get to the Celestial kingdom without family, but friends add a whole new level of happiness to life.  Mom then told me a story about when she was a kid.  She said she remembered an old friend of theirs that was very healthy and would have lived a long time, but died soon after his wife did.  She said when that happened she asked her dad, "So, in heaven we'll be with our family because we're sealed to each other, but what about friends?  Are we going to be with our friends in heaven?" And he answered, "Well, it wouldn't be heaven without them."  When she said that we both teared up.  It was a very inspiring conversation.

The next day we went to Disneyland and of course it was a blast.  I could take pictures and everything with my new phone!  It was so wonderful.  Anyway, that night, not too long before it closed, we were in Fantasyland.  Amy was on the carousel with Gracie and Maddie, Mom was somewhere changing Jason's diaper, and Anna and I were sitting on a bench by the carousel waiting.  I looked around and saw a girl with long blonde hair and a fancy camera to her eyes standing on top of another bench.  My gaze left her as I thought, "That would be fun to take pictures like that."  For some reason I looked back and as she lowered her camera her face registered in my brain.  That girl looked so much like my best friend, Chelsie, from our ward in Redlands.  I looked away thinking it couldn't possibly be her.  They were just about to move when we moved from Redlands and there was a girl in my stake who also looked very much like her, but was not her so my mind could just be confused again.  I turned toward her again as she hopped down from the bench and started talking to two blonde boys that looked the same age as my friend Chelsie's brothers were supposed to be.  I stood up and my mind argued with itself.  What if it's not her?  But you have to find out.  What if it is her?  My eyes still locked on my perspective friend I told Anna to wait there and walked over.  The girl's back was to me and after just standing there dumbly for a minute I said, "Chelsie?"  They girl whirled around and looked at me for a moment before screaming and dashing forward for a hug.  It was her!  One of my best friends I regretted loosing contact with was here at Disneyland, in the same place at the same time as me, almost three years after we said goodbye.  It was the craziest thing!  I had still been wearing my glasses in Redlands and she recognized me without them.  Her mom and sister returned from the carousel and I gave my former YW leader a hug.  It's funny how you can't exactly remember a face, but when you see it, you know it looks exactly the same.  Her sister, who was 1 when I left, looks absolutely nothing like she did before but I totally matched the faces of her brothers with the little boys I once knew.  I asked the youngest one (who is adorable) for a hug and he obliged. :) We had to separate again before we wanted to and I regret now not taking a picture together, but now we're following each other's instagrams and everything so we won't loose touch again.  After she left I still could not believe it happened, but it absolutely made my day.  It was the best.

Having that experience just the day after discussing friendship with mom really hit me.  I am so so blessed.