Friendship, Friendship

It's 3 days before payday and I have $12 in my bank account right now.

This is relevant later in the story.

At this, close to the close of the summer, I have lost my beloved camera, my fantastic macro lens, my pink and black camera bag (all gifts from my husband for our 20th wedding anniversary!), my sunglasses, a pair of sandals, my very favorite sweater ever, and my favorite coffee mug.

Which totally belonged to one of my daughters. And my mom gave it to her. And neither one of them knew about it until right.this.second.

Hi. You hate me.

i don't have money, right now, at this junction of my life. But what I do have is friends. I am so blessed with friends that, right now, you may want to grab a protein snack to go with the sweet that is sure to come by the end of this post. Maybe a little something sour to balance out the sugar I'm planning to share with y'all.

This is Heather. I love Heather.She has been my rock and my solid fortress, always there when I need to talk to her and need a shoulder to cry on or an ear to vent in.She shared her hotel room at Blogher with me, let me stay rent free, and didn't complain when I took 30 minute showers, lost everything I was tasked to keep track of, made us late for almost every function, and trashed the room. And ate all of her Trader Joe's Powerberries. Damn, those things are yummy.

Heather rocks.

Left to Right - Liz, Michelle,Christina, Kendra, Jenn, Elizabeth, Melisa and some chick that photo bombed. :)

This is my home group.

Literally. We email and chat every single day - there are more of us in the group, but this was the batch that we were able to stuff into one picture. These women are amazing - they always have my back. In fact, when they heard I was planning to walk back to my hotel at night- I wasn't at the hotel that most of the Blogher attendees were - and I didn't take taxis because it felt safe to me (except that we had just been talking about the black tape incident) and embarrassingly, I didn't have enough money - two of them insisted on paying for me to take a taxi back to my hotel. I was unbelievably touched - and I'm not embarrassed to say that I teared up. Right there.

This, right here, is hilarity. And I laughed so hard I may have peed. And this picture, beyond anything else, perfectly sums up what fun the week of Blogher was for me.

Kendra, me with just a swig too much coffee on board, and Issa

One of my most favorite couples from Blogher ever - Denise and TW - and almost the last time I saw my beloved black H&M sweater - at the CheeseBurgher party. The first picture I ever took with them I was in bed (it's a VERY long story) and so every year, I try to get a pic together. And we scored, by having it IN a bed as opposed to the hallway as we've done the past couple of years.

Pretend that there's a picture here of two of my local friends. Let's call them K, and, I dunno, K. That's original and inventive and just discreet enough to keep it private for two people who don't blog, who don't facebook, who don't tweet and are completely the opposite of me - and I NEVER said that was a bad thing, so don't you go thinking it.I call or text them both a couple of times a day and we keep each other sane and steady.

Well, at least they try to keep me sane.

You all know Kalisa. I talk about my love for her all the live long day. Yet another one of my friends.

These people are my friends. I can email them, text them, call them and ask for any favor and they say yes. Unquestionably, unequivocably, yes.

I may not have money, but I am rich in friends.

Now to the part where I tie in the fact that I'm broke.

Today, I was notified that I.won.a.brand.new.Tempur-pedic.bed and adjustable ergo base (!) from Blogher - and when it arrives in 3-5 weeks and I have a chance to sleep on it, oh, yes, please - I get to give.one.away.to.one.of.you.

Have you SEEN these beds? There was one set up in the expo hall at Blogher and I visited that booth so often that I wonder if they picked me from the random drawing just to get me to leave them alone. I laid on that bed at least twice a day. I talked with the representatives, I visited with my friends, I answered calls and conducted my business all from that bed.

Comfortable beyond belief. And I'm going to get one. And give one to one of you - and I'm giving you a heads up, because the give away is going to be pretty creative. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet, but it will most probably involve video and creativity and voting.So I'm giving you a heads up, so you can plan something wild and crazy for your entry. Which isn't now. But it's coming in the fall.

So. I may not have any money in my bank account. But I am rich beyond belief in friends.

And a new bed. That I should get around the end of September. And so I can give one away to you guys by December. In time for Christmas.

 

 

Comments

[Tara]

You are so lucky. I miss having girlfriends. You are rich indeed.

[Elizabeth]

I am so thrilled you won! A better person couldn't have been chosen. Sorry I didn't catch up to you at BlogHer. Maybe next year?!

[Lisa]

you are blessed. I have lovely friends but because they almost all have 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 children they don't hjave much time for fun. Oh well!

[Katherine]

I so wish I was a part of those pictures! :)

[Sarah]

That's so cool!!!! SO happy for you.

[Bridget]

Anyone who is friends with Heather is truly rich. She is an amazing friend.

And I love that you were with so many of my buddies and sad that I couldn't be there.

You'll be at Blissdom this year??

[Mary @ A Simple Twist of Faith]

You are rich indeed,Carmen.

[Headless Mom]

And I'm richer for you in my life. We did have fun, didn't we? Viva San Diego!

Oh, and I'm really important on the internet. Didn't you know? ;-)

[Rox]

All I can say is that I'm dying to make it into one of these glorious pictures in NYC next year, because, darn it, I am really sad that I missed the party (I mean, conference) this year. And I'm sad that I missed all of you, but especially you, Carmen, because you had coffee with me at my very first BlogHer and made me feel so good about being there when I was so green and overwhelmed. I hope you know how rich YOU make people feel just by being you.

P.S. I'm so happy you won a bed because nobody but nobody deserves a good rest more than you. I often get tired just from reading your posts about your day! Whew.

[addy]

Wow and Congratulations! You are a rich woman indeed.

[Melisa]

So much fun!!!!! :)

[beth]

That is so awesome!

[Laura H]

Woot!! So happy that you won the bed! You deserve it :D And thanks for sharing the awesomely fun pics.

[Brandy]

I wish I had friends like that. You're very blessed. Congratulations on the winning the bed!

[Prettylittlereckless]

FANTASTIC post! And how amazing that you won a bed! That's awesome! Friendship is definitely more important than money by far. Looks like you had a great time at BlogHer.

[Jenn]

It was a good year. And now you know you'll never walk alone...
...but will get your butt shoved in a cab cause we love you!

Good times!!

[Liz]

What a great time, eh?

{{{hugs}}}

Miss you, my friend!

[Allegra]

Hi mom, you can give me the bed in place of losing my coffee mug :)

[Christina]

It was a lot of fun, wasn't it? Miss you already!

[Headless Mom]

Shes a cheeky one, that Allegra. ;-)

[Sara]

I need a new bed soooo badly. Mine is horrible with two indents where John and I both sleep. I haven't bought a new one because I want a Temper Pedic. And I can't afford one! So I can't wait to try to win one here...

Glad you had a great time, Carmen. BlogHer always looks like fun.

[kyooty]

I'm so very very glad that you got to go to Blogher. I wish these things were more affordable but that's not "Business". Good luck to all the Bed enteries. Do they do a Canada event? :p

[Issa]

You won it? That is freaking awesome.

Money comes and goes. But friends make life better. Truly.

[Dukan Diet Recipes]

Hanging there..
When time is difficult, thats where friends came in, especially best friends.

Jay
Publisher, DukanDietRecipesX.com