TWICE AS NICE

Remember when you could run up to a kid you didn't really know - maybe on the playground or during gym class - and say, "I like you. Wanna be friends?"

Once you're out of school, settled into your home or apartment, found a steady job... once your life has a routine, it seems a lot harder than that to make new friends. I wish it was that simple again - to just introduce yourself and say, "You seem cool. Let's hang out." But there's a strange sense of not having enough blunt self-confidence to do that at this age; could I possibly have been more courageous at the age of five than I am now?

That being said, I have managed recently to make two great new friends and I'm blessed to have them in my life. They each have that wonderful way of making you feel good about yourself and beautiful even when you don't feel beautiful - like all good friends are able to do.

It's a true gift to have people in your life that will give you back to yourself when you've gone a bit astray.