Influences of friends

I have a friend who will be moving away soon, and it got me thinking about the influences of friends and how they shape your experience in life and hopefully bring new adventures into it. I am blessed to have quite a few fabulous friends, but will highlight three as they have been on my mind recently.
First, I have a good friend who I met during medical school. She and I are not alike in many ways yet we seem to get a long and have a fun time together. She likes to shop, and, well, shop, and spend time with friends and family, NOT eat and drink, and likes sleek hair and doesn't like peeing in the woods. I on the other hand, don't shop all that much (hence still trying to find my style), eat and drink too much, work out avidly, and also spend time with friends and family but actually like kind of bed-head hair and love peeing in the woods. I like the feel of air on my rearend. Anyway, we are a funny match but we have great conversations and she always makes me laugh. Who knew that after medical school ended and she moved away that we would still stay in touch as often as we do. What I admire most about her is her fortitude to stick to a task and her commitment to her ideals and her love of friends and family. I was thinking about her a lot today because she got me to give something up for Lent. I am not catholic but I love giving things up, so since yesterday, I have not had any sugar. Turns out, I am quite addicted to sugar and this has been kind of hard for me. Maybe she and I can get together and have one of her homemade pan cakes after this whole Lent thing is over. How long is it again?
So, it is funny how someone can influence your life...If you will notice the title of my blog, LOVE, DEATH, and CHOCOLATE. This title originated actually, from one of my longest and greatest friends from Wyoming. She is such a character, and we are actually quite alike in many ways. We both love the outdoors, camping, climbing, boarding, whatever. We love to travel and have new adventures. We can party hard, but know when to call it quits...most of the time. We have wonderful men in our lives and have the capacity for a lot of love as we know what it can be like to have challenges in your family and still love unconditionally. I think we have both grew as women and have become more into our own, and I have just loved to see her find happiness. She is my inspiration for the title of the blog in a weird way. She had posted or emailed something about what 3 things would you like to have to make a perfect day. So, I was thinking about this, and my list would be: Love (in the form of romance), campfire with friends, and great chocolate. So where did this death thing come from? Well, I have been thinking a lot about death lately (being a doctor and all), and I am trying to come to terms with it as a part of life. I decided to name my blog, in part about what I love in life, but also in part, what I do with my life and how I spend much of my time. So my 3 things, aren't what I would like to have as a "perfect day," but rather what is a part of my everyday. I have love from my wonderful husband, great friends and family and hopefully from myself; daily I see illness, heartbreak and death which is usually surrounded by love of family, and finally the ol' chocolate, which represents my end of the day relaxation which usually takes the form of either wine/chocolate/hottub in various combinations, and sometimes all three, snuggling at the end with the hubby.
Finally, another great friend whom I have come to love over the past 5 years is someone who will most definitely be moving away very soon. I have been around the block, meaning, I have moved quite frequently, and I know what it is like to move from friends. For the most part, you eventually lose touch. There are few that you will remain friends with for a very long time, and I would be interested to see who I will still be friends with when I am old and in the hospital. This friend is inspiring to me because she is hands down the best listener I have ever had as a friend. She will honestly listen to what I am saying and give me feedback as well as alternative ways to looking at a problem. She is very well rounded. One day she will be the worlds biggest shop-a-holic, the next hiking a mountain, or traveling across the world. She and I get a long, I think because we are both quite eclectic and try glean the good parts out of life. She inspires me to be curious. She is the reason I have the NY times as my homepage, and the reason I try to read books that are nonfiction occasionally. I am sad to see her go because she is a friend that I would like to stick around and see where our friendship would take us. She inspires honesty and sincerity as well as capriciousness. Who knows, maybe she will be a friend that will last a lifetime. I know time will tell, but honestly, it will be up to us to commit the time. Life gets harder. I know that now. I don't have time for what I want to do in life and for the truly important things in life. Friends who are at a distance miss out on day to day life and sharing and that is the hardest part. I suppose I am lucky to have wonderful people in my life and should rejoice in what I have now, instead of what I may lose in the future. For now, it is bittersweet.