My girlfriend and I went to a gospel competition earlier in the month. I so enjoy being with her. She gets me and she allows me to be me. She feels my pain and I feel hers. I know when she is tired and needs to rest. We are both Leo's high strung and needy. She is my Gayle. As we were having dinner before the concert she gave me a card. It is yellow and orange with the word "Grateful" written across the front of the card. When you open the card it reads..."that's how I feel, knowing I have good-hearted people like you to share life's journey. Thank you for being such a blessing just by being who you are." I smiled, I said aaww how sweet. And then she said it's true. I told her that I felt the same. We both just looked at each other and then said pretty much at the same time, I don't want to cry. Then we giggled and continued our dinner. Talking about everything and nothing. When the concert began we sat and immediately befriended everyone around us in Section 112. We are both outgoing, loud and sometimes bossy. We are mirror images of each other in personality however her boldness is more than mine. I would like to be able to be that bold, I still have some growing to do on that front.

Having women as friends always seems to be a challenge. I am grateful in that I have cultivated friendships with 4 women who all get me and who I get. We are the Diva's. We meet regularly for mani/pedi's, facial masks, massages, and snacks. We sit and catch up without our men. We enjoy each others company. We laugh. We are grateful. We all have ancillary friends, associates and those who we work with and those relationships are separate and apart from ours. Our friendship is the kind that women need. There are so many things that distract us from our own lives that having the ability to download with women who get you is so very important.

Expressing gratefulness comes in many forms. Regardless of how it is expressed the fact that it is expressed in the way that the receiver can feel is what is important. So many times we see friends and lovers and family being upset and disappointed because that person that they tried to thank did not receive the thankful act. I think the main reason is because wwe often times express our thankfulness and our gratefulness in ways that we would like, not the ways that the other person likes. That is why being friends with women in particular is so hard. There are so many expectations about what I think you shoulda' done in this situation or that and when you don't do it the way I think, I don't want to have anything to do with you. Baloney. The fact of the matter is that we are all different and we come from experiences as deep and wide as the Grand Canyon and as mired in the thickness of the depths of the ocean. My friends and I love each other the way each of us gets the love and that is something special.