Friends

I read a statistic today that says you will go through 396 friends in a lifetime but will have only 33 at any one time.  I disagree about the 33 part.  Most of us just have to log on to Facebook and we instantly have access to considerably more than 33 friends, right?  But the reason I really disagree is because of Jackson and his diagnosis.  I have had a lot of friends come and go in my life but have always felt that I was a pretty good judge of character and chose my friends well.  When we got Jackson’s diagnosis and the shock started wearing off, we began to tell more and more people about it.  I think at some point I actually sent out a mass email because there were just too many people to try and contact.  Honestly, I secretly wondered if some of our friends would “drop” us.  All of the sudden our lives were very different from all our friends.  Our priorities changed, our lifestyle changed, our amount of free time changed.  It wasn’t hard to see that the Klim’s were on a different track than a lot of our friends, with or without kids.  Plus I feared the pity parties that we might get.  I didn’t want people’s pity and I surely didn’t want the sorrowful looks I knew we were in store for.  So we told people and I just kind of hoped for the best.  I kind of figured that if we did have friends drop us, they weren’t really friends I wanted anyway.  Boy did I underestimate my friends!  I didn’t get any pity parties (not to my face anyway).  Instead I had friends cry with me, send supporting letters and emails, and phone calls to see if we needed anything.  Instead of dropping us our friends have embraced not only us, but more importantly Jackson.  The most surprising thing was we actually have made friends.  Those who were just acquaintances have become good friends and supporters.  Friends who I haven’t really kept in touch with have come out of the woodwork and renewed friendships.  I was right, I did and do have good taste in friends!  I can honestly say that I don’t think I would be as strong as I am now without all our friends.  The support and love I have felt over the last year or so has been a huge motivation to put away the bad moments and move forward.  Through something so sad and unfair, there have been extraordinary moments I never could have anticipated.    

So I know for a fact that there are more than 33 friends in our life right now, and I couldn’t be more thankful.  Our world would be such a lonely place without friends.  So thank you to all of our friends and family who have supported, loved and made our lives more richer.  And thank you to Jackson for making me realize it.