Friendship, part 1

I've been out of college now for ten years. I spent about two years after that in the restaurant business. During college and those next two years, I was never without something to do or someone to talk to. I had friends, a lot of friends, many of whom I still keep in contact through social media. But there came a point in December of 2004 that I lost most of those friends. The circumstances surrounding that time of my life will have to be saved for a later post because my point tonight is to really talk about friendship.
From January of 2005-June of 2011, I can say I felt extremely alone. Yes, I had my husband, Matt, but I had very few friends. Nothing like I had in college. There were people I worked with, people I went to church with, but when it came down to wanting to hang out, eat dinner, or go to the movies with a girlfriend, I just didn't have it.
But since last year, God has blessed me with some amazing people. I think I may take the next couple days to just focus on one person at a time.
The first person I want to gush on is my friend, Cynthia. I don't know really when it was that we decided we were going to be friends. We were in the same small group together for a while, so that's how it started. But somewhere along the line we went from "small group friends" to just friends.
Cynthia is an amazing woman. She takes care of her family, she is an awesome mother, and she goes above and beyond in her relationships...with really everyone. She is a great photographer, and spends time volunteering at one of the local animal shelters, taking pictures of the dogs so people can look at them online, and they (the dogs) can hopefully find homes. Her heart is so large. She is passionate about her friendships. She is passionate about helping those who can't help themselves. She is passionate about her relationship with God. I am so beyond blessed to have her in my life. I feel like God just knew that I needed a friend like her. I needed friends. period. but Cynthia definitely brightens my life. I wish I could express it in better words than that. Take for instance today, I'm pretty much stranded at home because we have a little bit of a spastic dog. I needed an item, she bought the item, and went out of her way to bring it by my house tonight...in the cold and rain. She helped me chase down the aforementioned spastic dog on Sunday when he escaped out of the house. She really is there whenever I need her! Thank you, Cynthia! I LOOOOOOOVE you!