It’s Thanksgiving week, so what should my personal blog be about besides gratitude? I know this isn’t a unique topic. I’m sure almost everyone with a blog or social media outlet will opine about being thankful this week. However, I don’t write this blog for metrics; I write it as an outlet for my thoughts and feelings. It just so happens that an event from last week made me reflect on gratitude.

Last Tuesday I received a text from a very dear friend, who’s really more like a sister, that her brother-in-law passed away unexpectedly. I immediately sent my condolences and offered to do whatever she and her husband needed. She said they were fine at the moment.

On Wednesday evening I received a text, asking if I could drive them to the airport on Thursday morning. I said I could do that and then asked which airport. She replied that it was Manchester, which is only fifteen minutes from their house.

Thursday morning, as we approached the airport, her husband commented, “Isn’t this better than Boston? You said yes before you knew where we were flying. That’s a good friend.”

I smiled and replied, “If it were Boston, I wouldn’t have minded.”

And I wouldn’t have because that’s what good friends do. They are there for each other, and certainly in this particular relationship we have been through thick and thin. I can remember vividly a day when I called my friend, sobbing. She took the day off from work, drove to my house, and spent the day with me. She wiped my tears, made me laugh, and helped me pull myself up by my bootstraps. She didn’t ask for thanks. She didn’t remind me what a big thing she did. She just did it.

So, when she texted me this past Wednesday, the reply wasn’t, “What airport?” It simply was, “Yes.” If she had said Boston, Providence, New York City, I would have driven them there.

I realize not every friendship is like this. Some of us just are very fortunate and work to have a relationship like this. So, very fittingly this week, I am grateful to have a friend this dear.

Thank you for being my friend.