The title of my blog, Our Blessed Life, is basically what our life is, very blessed. For whatever reason, this household has been spared from any major illness, loss of job, financial difficulties, divorce, or any of the various troubles so many people we know are facing. Don't get me wrong, our life isn't perfect, we have our share of problems. My husband has health problems but thankfully, nothing life-threatening. It's chronic & will never go away, but as far as we know, it isn't deadly thank goodness. We have had to watch our spending just like everybody else has, but it's not because of job loss. So while it isn't perfect & we do have our share of problems, they are so insignificant and nothing compared to what so many are going through, that it makes me ashamed to even mention them.
Which brings me back to the title of the blog. I discussed changing it with Mahboo, Dana Parker Gault (more on her later) and told her that it felt like I was bragging about my life but I didn't want to slap God in the face by not acknowledging what He has done for us. She assured me that it wasn't bragging, just recognizing what God has done in my life & that I was focusing more on the positive aspects of my life instead of dwelling on my problems. And I am more than capable of throwing down with pity parties, in my opinion, they can be good for you. Because a few hours later or the next day, when you feel better, it causes you to take some kind of inventory of what caused you to feel that way & go about making any changes you need with a clear head. But I don't like to wallow in self-pity and I do what I can to shake myself out of it. Usually just quiet time & a good night's sleep make all the difference. People who are negative just drain me, I can't take their self-pity for too long. While I try to be supportive & offer advice or just a shoulder to cry on, after awhile I just can't be around that person. Life is hard enough without taking on someone else's problems, especially when they seem content to wallow in their misery. Far be it from me to rain on their pity parade, so I'll step back and let them do their thang.
Anyway, enough of that. Now is the part where I sing the praises of my lifelong BFF, Dana Parker Gault. She is so much more than my BFF, that really doesn't even do her justice. I have a lot of friends that I consider my BFF and I love all of them, they are all very important to my life. DPG is different for so many reasons. For one, I've literally known her since we were in our mom's wombs. Sybil Morgan & Peggy Parker were friends & neighbors who both happened to be pregnant at the same time, and I've often wondered why they both named us Dana because I don't see myself naming my baby a name that my friend is using. I guess they both really liked the name & one didn't "steal" it from the other and they just used it & it wasn't a big deal. Maybe my mom can comment & verify or correct me on that. Anyway, we grew up together, playing together when we were toddlers, going to school together at Oakland Heights and later to West Lauderdale. And we are there for each other, up to and including yesterday. Or she was there for me, when I fired off a message to her on Facebook heehee. We call each other "Mahboo", a southern sounding way of saying "my boo". She has her own sister, but as far as I'm concerned, she really is my sister from another mister. She gets me, she knows every bad thing I've done (and wanted to do), she appreciates my sick sense of humor and she is completely loyal. I know that if I called her & told her that I wanted to kill someone, instead of lecturing me, she would probably think that the person deserved to die if I wanted them to and she would help me figure out how to get away with it. And she knows I'd do the same for her, probably even do the killing for her. I guess I need to make sure it's understood that we have NEVER had such a conversation, I just know how it would all go down because of how deep our friendship is.
She is probably the sweetest person I know, always upbeat and has nothing but kindness oozing out of her. Don't get me wrong, she will take you to task if you need it and I've seen her do it. Probably been on the receiving end of it too. She is an awesome mom & wife and not to get into her business too much, it really is amazing to see because her own example has fallen way too short. She loves her family and shows it in ways that really count, the small things. Her daughters are growing up to be happy, healthy, well-adjusted little ladies. I love her daughters and I have my eye on 2 of them for being potential wives for my son. I also love her husband Jason, for the way he treats her and is so supportive of & appreciative of her. He has the same dry, sick sense of humor that I have and I love that he gets me too. He always makes me feel more than welcome in their home & he & I can sit and have conversations without her even being in the room. We mostly cut up and laugh but we do have serious discussions about work, politics, and other topics that you don't associate with lightness. They are a precious family and I consider them my family.
So you will read about her a lot here, peppered into my conversations because while I may not see her often enough, we don't let too many days pass where we don't touch base in some way. We're not up each others butts and we give each other space because neither of us require entertaining from the other on a constant basis. She knows I'll drop what I'm doing to help her solve a problem or just listen to her if she needs to verbally work through something. And she will do the same for me. And the best thing about our friendship is, neither of us will tell the other what we want to hear. I know I can count on her for honesty. She'll tell me what I need to hear, not what I want to hear and she'll get tough if need be. But mostly she'll just keep it real for me, like a sister does.
Maybe I have emptied my brain for the day of all these thoughts I've had. I'm three for three now on this blog, hopefully I can keep it up at this pace!
Happy Sunday, love to all & be blessed!! xoxo
~DMB (code name from DPG)
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