Blessings and Lessons

What do you think of this phrase?  

I often will think back to all the people I've met in my life.  Some I'm still in relationships with, some I only knew for a while, and others are long gone.  Going along with my belief that there are no coincidences, I have to wonder why these people were brought into my life?  Why were some friendships shorter than others?  Why did I get so close to come people so quickly, and others I never warmed up to?

I started by thinking about the obvious- past boyfriends.  They were all different from one another, but upon closer examining, there was a commonality between them.  There was something "broken" about all of them.  One had a crappy home life, one had an alcoholic dad and step-mom, another wasn't sober very often, another was no longer in contact with his family...  While I felt I loved them all, I wonder, did I really just want to fix them??

Then, I move onto work-friendships.  I've been fortunate to have worked in some places for longer periods of time.  For a while I was in one school for 7 years, and I gained some really great friends by working there.  Others kind of faded to "facebook friends" and I've lost touch with others completely.  Yet, these were people I saw virtually every day, and felt that we could be considered friends.  How did it all change so much once I left?  Was it really work holding us together?  I don't think so... I think that these were the people that were put in place to help me learn.  They were guides, and I can honestly say that I took away something from all of them (other than just some awesome memories).  Since I believe that my life is somewhat mapped out, and I'm being guided, I think that these people were put in my path for specific purposes.  I'm going to take some time to think about what those purposes were, and see if I can make some connections.

Then, I think about my current friendships...  I have some that I go to when I need life advice.  Others I go to for kid/mother advice.  A few that I can turn to whenever I need anything- positive or negative.  I even have a friend that seems to pop in every time my spirit needs him.  It's funny because we aren't in constant contact, but when we are and we have some truly enlightening conversations- my soul feels happy.  I know, I know... I know how that must sound, but that's the best way of describing it.

So, now that I've started thinking deeper about my friendships, relationships, etc. I'm going to see if I can figure out the lessons that those people taught me, and be sure that I thank my blessings for being part of my life and who I am.

**PS- thanks for the gentle reminder to keep posting, B!**