In order to properly describe my appreciation for these people, I must preface all of this with some familial history:
For those of you who don't know...I do not have a very good (or, really ANY) relationship with my parents. Both my mom and dad have issues that has made it impossible for me to have a relationship with them.
Now, don't get me wrong....family is BEYOND important to me. I have tried everything short of duct taping myself to their leg to have a close relationship with them. Unfortunately, they both seem to have been infected with some sort of disease that does not allow you to give a shit about your daughter or grand kids and focus only on themselves.
Harsh...yes, I know. But the truth.
So all of this has made me a tad apprehensive about getting myself, and my kids, involved in any kind of a relationship outside of our immediate family. I mean, really....if you can't trust your own MOTHER AND FATHER to care about you and your kids, how could you trust "just a friend" to care?
So along comes Joan and Carrie. I met both of them at a parent committee meeting in Prescott. They showed me the finer drinking establishments in Prescott...I baked them cakes. We bonded. So when we decided to move, guess who showed up to help? Certainly not my parents, but Joan and Carrie. They have cleaned my house, watched my kids, sold my junk at a garage sale.....they have listened to my worry, harassed me until I laughed and told me over and over that they appreciate me....just by being sad that we are leaving. They would be the first to say that TO THEM this is no big deal, but to ME it has meant the world.
I have said many times that I don't know what I have done to deserve my kids...they are such a gift to me. I now can add Joan and Carrie to that list because, really, they are such a huge blessing to us.
