Friday’s on the horizon as I ride the early train home.  Glorious day Thursday.  Productivity high and the cusp of my time at the annual Keystone Conference in Harrisburg, PA offering anticipation and excitement.  The opportunity to see friends with whom I haven’t visited in months will be pleasurable and gratifying.

Friend; the moniker and the honor we bestow on people who touch our life in ways that help us to feel complete.  We bestow and are also bestowed by those for whom we meet a need that only a friend can fill.

The adage, you can’t pick your family but you can pick your friends is true and meaningful.  The commentary is not intended to be derogatory.  Family provides support and love.  The relationship becomes challenging when there is a dearth of one or the other.  We settle because we can’t exchange.  The puzzle of life is complex. Friends can and often do pick up the slack.  This is most true in situations when you can’t talk to family about your life but you can openly and honestly share with friends. Common frame of reference is vitally important and enhances the harmony of friendship.

There are twists and turns on the road life.  Some friends accompany us for long stretches, others join us at one way station or milepost and leave us at the next.  They are situational friends meaning they usher us through one or more situations for which they are equipped to deliver on the need – filling a void.

We’ve had many experiences like that.  I’ve recently reflected on the situational friendships that touched my life, realizing I have been the utility infielder, the six “man”, the substitution, when there was a need I could fill for someone.

That’s not a lament.  I don’t think I was equipped to provide more than situational support; helping those people to the place where I could hand them off to another who could lend a supportive shoulder.

Let’s celebrate all of the friends, past and present.  We’ll anticipate (maybe anxiously) the advent of new friendships.  They will come to fruition, surfacing when you least expect.  Life has a way of delivering the silver lining when we’re focusing on the dark cloud.

Enjoy the weekend and if you’re in Harrisburg I look forward to seeing you.

Love and hugs, Nikki Nicole DeCaro