My friends are all so different…and, their qualities are different. I have very few people that I call true friends…but those few are my ride or die. Oddly, some of them don’t even know each other…perhaps, most.

There is a difference between family and friends…family is family, and friends are by choice. But those that I truly treasure as friends are family in my heart and soul.

My two oldest friends are not from grade school, or high school…they are from college and the military. I don’t see or talk to them often, but they are always top of mind. We message each other pretty often and speak when big things happen…babies, grandbabies, career changes, news, new love, significant life changes, etc. They are my steadies…reminders of who I was and who I am. One introduced me to politics, and I introduced her to tennis. She’s a tennis fanatic and I’m still captivated with politics…getting out the vote and community engagement. The other introduced me to dancing and I introduced her to restraint. I still dance a little and she has occasional moments of restraint. They know who they are, and I know who they are…and we all know ourselves.

My closest friend is someone I find myself in awe of…she has no fear. Often people care too much about what other people think…she cares but not as much as most. I find that the older I have gotten and the less reliant I have become on others, the more like her I have become…the less concerned about what others think. She has always been strides ahead of me in that area and I believe that is why she is flourishing in her political life and her relationships with people. Mind you, I’m no shrinking violet and certainly stand my ground on those things most important to me…but this lady is strides ahead.

Then there is another old friend who I met professionally about twenty-five years ago. The first couple of interactions I had with her I distinctly remember thinking, “No one can be this nice.” I can honestly say that over the years I learned she was that nice every single day to every single person I observed her working with. She was also a Christian who really believed in the teachings of Christ. I would say her manner is what I imagine what I believe Christ-like is supposed to be. But don’t get it twisted, she was a Christian, but the subject of religion rarely came up in conversation. It is how I know that all Christians cannot possibly be Trump folks…I would be crushed if I found I found out she was. I don’t know…but I can’t imagine it could be so.

Anyways, my list of true friends is short but not this short…we would be here quite a while. This is a political blog so let me end by saying, all of my friends believe in America. All of my friends are soldiers and voters…whether political, religious, and/or military. They are all folks trying to make this a better world for everyone. They are all doers, not onlookers. Not one of them is ruled by fear of others…not saying they don’t care about what others think but they are not going to let that come between them and what they truly believe. All of them are honest brokers…not saying they won’t tell you a tall tale every once in a while, but not one of them will cheat, lie with intent to deceive or harm, or lead you to believe they are not who they are, and every one of them believes in our democracy.

And lastly, all my friends are full of laughter and happiness…and, all of them have stories to tell. No one has all good days, but I think all of my friends have had far more good days than bad days. Perhaps that is why they believe in this country…because the good days have by far outweighed the bad days, and on the bad days there is always hope for a better tomorrow in the America we know today. This is not necessarily the case today for everyone in the country but if we make the forward-looking choices, we can continue moving toward making better lives for all.