{"id":548,"date":"2008-08-16T13:44:45","date_gmt":"2008-08-16T17:44:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/?p=548"},"modified":"2008-08-16T17:06:37","modified_gmt":"2008-08-16T21:06:37","slug":"youve-got-a-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/?p=548","title":{"rendered":"You’ve Got a Friend"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Taylor said it all when he sang \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve Got a Friend\u00e2\u20ac\u009d back in the early 1970s.\u00c2\u00a0 It is a lucky person indeed that finds a good friend or two along the way.\u00c2\u00a0 Hard times are always just a little bit better if there is a friend nearby.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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No matter who it is, man or beast, when a friend dies you lose a little bit of you. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

My friend, Marshall, lost his best friend, Buford, recently. \u00c2\u00a0 Buford and Marshall had been best buddies for years.\u00c2\u00a0 He was a basset hound and he was tragically hit by a car. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Marshall grieved like all of us would if we lost a best buddy.\u00c2\u00a0 Things were made a bit easier because of the good memories and great times they had.\u00c2\u00a0 Marshall was a better man because of Buford.\u00c2\u00a0 I venture to say he was a better husband and friend because of his relationship with Buford.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I mention Marshall and Buford because I lost a good friend, Chris, this week.\u00c2\u00a0Chris lived life to the fullest. \u00c2\u00a0He had a great sense of humor and always had a listening ear. \u00c2\u00a0Even in his final days of his illness, Chris was very intuitive and thought of others, particularly, his loving wife more often than of himself.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Tomorrow is his funeral. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

His whole family is here from out of town and his wife has many of them at the house she shared with Chris these last years of his life.\u00c2\u00a0 They had lived at Edisto Beach before which is where Chris and I often went fishing. We had some great talks while we were on the open water.\u00c2\u00a0 He was like a father and a friend all wrapped up into one.\u00c2\u00a0 He was the minister in the small community my husband and I lived in after my husband died years ago.\u00c2\u00a0 He, too was a minister of our church. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I am a better person for having known Chris.\u00c2\u00a0 I will miss him.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Barbara, his wife, and I have become even better friends over the years.\u00c2\u00a0 We are sure to continue being good friends.\u00c2\u00a0 Having experienced what it is like losing a minister husband, too, will be something we now have in common. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

So what do you do when you lose a good buddy?<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

As I said about Marshall some months back, you show others – by example -\u00c2\u00a0 how to adjust to the loss and move on.\u00c2\u00a0 For some of us it takes longer than others.\u00c2\u00a0 We heal and adjust in different ways and – in most cases – they are all ok. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

My wish for you today<\/strong> is that you have the chance at some point in your life to experience the closeness of best buddies or good friends.\u00c2\u00a0 I do know those who have never had a good friend and I am sad for them.\u00c2\u00a0 Friendships and buddies make life richer.\u00c2\u00a0 Perhaps you can find someone to be a buddy to if you have yet to experience that.\u00c2\u00a0 It certainly is worth it. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

~ Joellen<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James Taylor said it all when he sang \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve Got a Friend\u00e2\u20ac\u009d back in the early 1970s.\u00c2\u00a0 It is a lucky person indeed that finds a good friend or two along the way.\u00c2\u00a0 Hard times are always just a little bit better if there is a friend nearby.\u00c2\u00a0 No matter who it is, man or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,22,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-death","category-friendship","category-living-life-to-the-fullest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}