You've Got to Have Friends

One of the cool things about being a military wife is that I have friends scattered all over the country. Of course, that is also one of the worst things about being a military wife, but I digress.

At least once a year, a bunch of my friends gather in one city to spend some time together. Some years, there have been just a few of us; maybe a dozen or so. Other years the number has gotten so high that I didn't even meet everybody in attendance.

I love that my circle of friends is made up of an extremely diverse group of people. I have those I've met in our years traveling through the Air Force, the ones I made in college, and the many that I've made through my writing connections.

Those writer friends are congregating in New York City this holiday weekend. And I won’t be there.

I've missed this get-together other years and really felt like I was missing out. But this year I don’t feel like I am missing a thing.

A lot of those friends are single. Sometimes the grass seems so very green on their side of the fence. But tonight, I am very happy to be sitting in the comfort of my living room watching Landscapers Challenge with my husband. The fun they’re having sipping cosmopolitans in a swanky bar could never measure up to the true happiness I feel to just be with my husband.

I love my friends, and some of them have become family to me over the years. Those friends will be there for me in the months to come when I really need them. But no matter how challenging my life can sometimes be, I wouldn't trade lives with them for anything.