You got a friend in me

I saw Toy Story 3 last night, and while it ties in to the overlying theme, it is not the basis for this post. I had the opportunity to spend this last Fourth of July weekend at a cabin on a beautiful lake in Northern California with some wonderful people, and that is the basis for this post.
Friends are a funny thing, some people can make them easily, and some people have more trouble, some people treat theirs lightly and to some they are their most precious possession. I hope that none of us are taking our friends lightly and that we are being good friends to those that need us. I have thought in the past that it might be possible for us to be friends with anyone that we meet, and I still believe that this is true, but this weekend reminded me that a few common threads will bind much more tightly.
One of the guys that went with us mentioned that on the way home, and it stuck with me a little. Because of the common threads that we had, which in this case were religion, geography, and the fact that none of us are married, we were able to jell in a way that I have not experienced in a long time. Going in I was pretty good friends with at least three of the people there, knew or had met another four or so, and the rest of the eleven I had never met. It only took a couple of minutes until we were joking like old friends. That is a wonderful thing.
I do not know where this post is going, but I do know that all of the kids (I say kids but that is just a term of art) that went with us were fun, unpretentious, and unselfish. With a recipe like that there ain't nothin' you cain't make.
I don't know if I want this to be a preachy post or what, but I know that I have some great friends out there, not the least of whom are my family, and all those friends are there for me time in and time out, and I hope that I am there for them every once in a while.
This post was probably also brought on by the fact that my good friend Tishe was over here and we were discussing her lesson that she is giving to Girl's Camp tomorrow on, what else, relationships. I really think that a big part of who we are and why we are here ties in to the relationships that we have with others, I was reminded this weekend of how good people can make things so enjoyable, and all you really need is a good attitude. Like I always say, if you cannot be happy sitting on a curb, you are not happy, but I do think that there is very little that can help people to be more happy than to have a good friend sit on that curb with them, and no matter what you are going through and no matter what they think of the decisions that you have made in your life, they can just say, "you know, things are going to get better."
I am really grateful for all the people in my life, and I hope that they are grateful for me. If you need anything, holler at your boy.

That is the group that went to the lake in this picture above. We went to a small branch (we about doubled the size), and the people there were so welcoming and the Spirit was so strong, I realized again why Mom and Dad dragged us to all those churches over the years. It was really neat to be in that small branch, we got to help with the Sacrament and since it was fast Sunday the Branch President actually made a point of asking us to bear our testimonies, which several of us did. It was a really neat experience.