There are times when I feel a Sarah Jessica Parker character and I are kindred spirits. Don’t be alarmed, I’m not talking Carrie Bradshaw from Sex in The City, we all know that would be an elaborate fantasy. This is more Meredith Morton from the 2005 film, The Family Stone.
It’s Christmas and she arrives at her boyfriends family home, the Stones, where she is to meet everyone for the first time. She can do nothing right and everything just goes from bad to worse.
No one likes her, they’ve decided this before they’ve even met her. They set her up to fail as they are all in need of a good laugh. Criticism abounds, so they can feel better about themselves.
At one point she is covered in an uncooked egg dish she had planned to make for Christmas morn, she crashes a car and in front of everyone finds out her boyfriend doesn’t want to marry her. Then on top of everything, she is feeling complete shame for having got drunk and woken up in her boyfriends brothers bed, to be told that he didn’t take advantage of her and had slept on the floor. More rejection!
She throws her hands in the air and in a tearful voice, cries out, “Doesn’t Anybody Love Me!?”
There you have it. Sarah Jessica and I have bonded.
And then it’s Christmas eve morn and there is a knock at my door.
I’m still in my robe and slippers, I’m not sure if I’d even brushed me teeth. “Dear Lord, who could this be?”
It’s my dear friend, Tonya. She’s made a special trip to let me know she’s concerned and that I am indeed loved and she even has a gift.
We toast with mimosa’s and we share.
She then goes back to her world and I go forward to face mine.
I am blessed with good friends. This is a precious gift. Friends reach out, take time and love you. They laugh with you through the tears, they ask you the tough questions. They don’t support wallowing, they challenge you to grow and continue on. And then they laugh some more to help in the shaking off and letting go of it all.
What I can tell you is, difficult times will pass. It’s just that when you are in the thick of them, when all your energy goes into holding back tears, keeping that chin up and a smile on for everyone else, it can feel rather dismal, not to mention exhausting. 
So when you here the knock at the door, open it and welcome in the love.
Friends help and mimosa’s certainly don’t hurt.
Photos: Internet stock