Friendships Deserve a "Thank You" Once in a While

Friendships are like traveling in a river. You're in the boat together, and you're on a path together that a lot of times, you can't control. You don't necessarily know where you're going, or where you're going to end up, but if you've got a good group of friends, the journey can be fun and rewarding. Sometimes friends go off on their own- they leave in their own boats without telling you, they jump overboard and abandon you with fanfare (and splashing), or you part ways amicably. Sometimes you gain new friends, new people who come along to travel with you.

Such is life.

How often, however, do you look around and say "hey, thanks for being my friend" to any of the people in your particular boat?

The reason that I am thinking of this is because today, for no reason other than the fact that I'd been listening to him deal with some "stuff," a good friend of mine said "hey, thanks for being my friend." I told him not to worry, and that it was no big deal, and various other things, but after thinking about it for a few moments after I'd gotten off the phone with him, it really struck me, and it really stuck with me, and it made me feel really good and valued as a friend. I walked around the rest of the day just feeling good.

All because a person had taken the time to just say "thanks."

It's not something that we usually thank people for, friendship- but yet it can be something that we literally can't live without. Studies have proven that people who don't have friends are less healthy than people with friends, and that they die earlier, and all sorts of horrible things. So why are we not more grateful to our friends?

I suppose a little bit of it is taking our friends for granted- I know I have been guilty of it in the past, but certainly, taking a moment to stop and say "hey, thanks," isn't too much to ask- and if it makes your friends feel half as good as I have felt today, it'll go a long way towards letting them know how valued they are in your life. Friends are important, and we should let them know how important they are. And not just on birthdays and Christmas/Hanukkah/Whatever winter holiday happens to be the one you celebrate.

With all the Hallmark Holidays that are out there, you'd think there'd be a "Friendship Day" that we could use to celebrate our friends, and how important they are in our lives. But since there isn't, we'll have to do it on our own. So take that minute or two out of your day, call up your friends, and tell them "thanks."

It's a good feeling, to know how valued you are by someone else, and it'll give you a warm glow, too.