The Friend Factor

Living with Fibro can feel pretty lonesome at times. Feelings of isolation, combined with the symptoms of Fibro, CFS, IBS, etc can be wickedly overwhelming. When I’m in a full flare, I tend to want to hide myself away from everyone…family, friends, even my doctors. I think I do this for a lot of reasons. I don’t want to depress everyone. I’m afraid they’ll think I’m just whining and truthfully, there are times when just being civil is really a tremendous effort. When I’m in pain, I tend to lash out & morph from my normally bitchiness to the Uber Bitch from Hell. My kids run in fear, even my dogs seem to know.

This is where my friends always seem to shine the brightest. I have one particular friend, we’ll call her Peanut, that is ALWAYS there. She listens to me bitch and complain about my bazillion aches & pains that she has heard countless times before. I can say things to her that I can’t say to anyone else. I think one of the things I appreciate the most is that I don’t have to filter my thoughts with her. She doesn’t get alarmed if I get a little dramatic and doesn’t panic if I cry (although in the beginning, I think she was shocked to know that I COULD cry). She just listens and offers VGH’s (Very Gentle Hugs). I can’t ever, in any way, describe how much she means to me!

What’s funny, is that Peanut & I hated each other for the first 4 or 5 years that we knew each other. I don’t know what really happened, but magically we just…bonded, I guess. We’re extremely different from each other. I love tattoos, heavy metal, beer & pasta salad and she hates them. She likes Rush (the band), white wine & the Phillies (although she does like the Red Sox too so I’ll keep her). She’s the peanut to my butter…ok, yes, that was corny LOL.

I have many other friends, too, like Teresa who lifts me up when I fall down. Teresa seems to know exactly what to say to make me smile & just loves me for me…bitchiness, pain and all. I can’t even begin to name the people who have stood beside me during this…friends in the real world and friends on Facebook. Heather, Aunt Carol, MesaRose, Kelley, Judy my sister in Bitchology, Becky, Evelyn…the list goes on.

Without these treasures in my life, I would have pretty much shriveled up and faded away by now. I know that every one of them would sit beside me in a jail cell saying, “Damn, that was fun!”. I value every single one of them (and hope no one is offended if they weren’t mentioned by name …I’m sure you will be at one time or another). I pray that I’m as good a friend to them and bring them the same love, humor and support that they bring me.