Today is Thursday and that typically means that I should be doing a Thursday Thirteen, but I decided late last night to skip it this week. Instead, I was going to write up a poignant post on friendship. But you know, just now as I started writing this, I figured I’d combine the both. So here we go…thirteen reasons I’m grateful for my friends…

1. filled our freezer with food when my father-in-law (FIL) passed away
2. sent donations to the American Cancer Society in my FIL’s name
3. drove an hour+ to attend my FIL’s funeral, burial and wake, all during a visit with family to be by my side
4. allowed me to live rent-free for a month
5. let me move in with her when I was at a financial low point
6. bought me my favorite WW-friendly, ice cream from Baskin Robbins
7. hosted a full on dinner party for me, my hubby and my two other friends when we were back in Albuquerque visiting
8. passed along baby clothes that they no longer needed so I could pass them on to my sister-in-law since she didn’t have local friends of family to pass things on to her
9. sent me a priority envelop stuffed full of convention freebies and deluxe hotel toiletries (more than once!)
10. snuck home a piece of chocolate cake, squished into a pilfered coffee cup from a work function
11. convinced me to fly to LA and attend a Memorial Day party where I wound up meeting my husband
12. shared a vacation rental (not once, but twice) and opened their home to us – even though some folks may think it’s weird that we’re such good friends with my hubby’s ex
13. were there to support me financially, emotionally, lovingly during any one time or another

I could go on and on, but really, I’m just so grateful for my friends and would do anything for them (and they know it!)