Prosperity is no just scale; adversity is the only balance to weigh friends ~ Plutarch
This blog post is a shout-out to my amazing friends. Why? Because when I needed help, they all volunteered. By the measure set forth by Plutarch, my friends “rock!” Of course, my adversity is not the profound, life-changing sort to which his quote would be most apt, but that fact doesn’t make it any less true.
The past ten days have been a blur. Having finally conquered the jet lag from our lengthy trip to Hawaii and California, and in the midst of preparing for house guests (and my upcoming trip to Atlanta for the Romance Writers of America conference), I got hit with some bad news about my brother. He had an accident requiring another surgery (his fourteenth, mind you). I won’t go through the lengthy list of risks that kept our family stressed, but am happy to report he survived the surgery without complications.
However, he is temporarily immobilized as a result of his injuries, and requires our mother’s assistance to do nearly everything (he is unmarried and has no significant other). Thus, the “babysitter” I thought I’d lined up to watch my kids so I could go to Atlanta this week is stuck in Pittsburgh helping her son. Yikes.
My husband isn’t able to take vacation time during the month of July (and has just returned from a two week vacation). So, with a non-refundable trip to take and no sitter in sight, what’s a girl to do? Apparently she calls on her gal pals to see if they could take on her kids in addition to their own. 
Within five minutes of a sending a group email, I received several offers…within twenty, I had a full brigade of help lined-up to chauffeur and feed my kids over a three-day period (despite those women also having to juggle their own kids and schedules). I can’t express my gratitude enough. I’ve always thought my friends were special ladies, but now I’ve got proof.
Of course, I’m still not able to attend the conference without worry. On Sunday, an angry red rash broke out over my son’s body. We’ve been to two doctors and have completed a series of blood tests in the past thirty-six hours. Now we’re just waiting for answers. The good news? The rash doesn’t itch or burn, and neither doctor suspects anything truly dire. The bad news – no one knows what is wrong, so I’m feeling guilty about going to the convention while my child is in flux.
But I’m shoving the “mommy guilt” aside because (a) I’ve been eagerly anticipating this conference for professional and personal reasons, (b) I’m going to have an opportunity to meet my new agent (who is based in Southern California) while I’m there, and (c) I’m basically leaving the kids in the care of their amazing father and my dear friends. In spite of all this upheaval, I’m so excited about all of the classes I’m going to take, and the new people I’ll meet.
I love uplifting, inspirational true stories about love and friendship. Are the friends who are happy to hang around when times are good equally willing to stand by you when things go bad? I hope so, and would love to hear about your great friends, too!
xo-Jamie
