Help!

(Your wish is my command, Karla- a new post!)

I’ve been feeling a little bit of a Beatles tune deep down in my soul. It goes like this, “Help me if you can I’m feelin’down- and I do appreciate you ‘bein ‘round. Help me get my feet back on the ground. Won’t you please, please help me?”

Truth: I’ve been feeling rather lonely, thus the whole “help me” bit. I hate admitting this, because I’m in Thailand. It’s incredible. I shouldn’t be feeling anything but awe and wonder and enjoyment, right? Well, I hate to break it to you, but it’s still a huge adjustment, and I’m having to deal with newness all about me! It can be rather exhausting. This means one thing in particular- new community. And let’s be honest, why would I ever want to have a new community when back home I have the coolest friends known to man? Nevertheless, I am beginning to develop a new community here.

Okay- what I’m trying to get at is this- everybody needs a friend. Someone to laugh with, watch The Office with, hang with, talk deep with, you know. And it seems the older I get the harder it is to make friends. When we were young it was so easy to be cool, wasn’t it?- maybe you were the “new kid” as I often was, maybe you brought your dog to show and tell which made you extremely awesome, or perhaps your high top Chuck Taylors had glow-in-the-dark Halloween bats and ghosts puffy painted on them (Oh yeah, my brother Clarke had these. He became instantly rad at Maple Elementary, as I recall.) Either way, making friends was a bit of a sinch. But now I’m 23, in Thailand, and am without puffy paint to snazz up my kicks. So how am I supposed to make friends? Don’t worry, there’s good news- I have made a great friend, Sarah, and despite my lack of pets and fashion, and I do believe that her company will make life in Thailand all the greater. Therefore, I’m thrilled!! Things are looking up. And I am finding that it’s not always where you are, but who you’re with, that brings real life But it seems that I wouldn’t have necessarily realized this to the point that I have unless I had been here, in Thailand, away from my typical pals. So perhaps it IS about where you are. Analyze this, if you will.

Basically, this blog is a cheers to friendship. It is something none of us can last long without. It is a beautiful thing to connect and relate to one another. Cheers to new friendship, and to dear old friends who are never far from my thoughts. Here’s hoping that we love our friends as we should!

Okay, now please view this if you want to learn what real friendship is all about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVoCJJFuS60

(Note: This video was shown to me by one of my best friends, Meg. What a laugh. Love you so much!)

(Additional Note: Tom, Sarah's husband, is also very, very cool. He is a great mate (as in, friend) and he may or may not have implied that he'd be sad if I didn't mention him. Hah!)