My husband’s post on his blog today is about friendship. He mentions that he hasn’t kept friends from his childhood, and somehow the tight bonds created with time are something he doesn’t quite grasp. No wonder when I told him, in shock, that one of my good childhood friends died last week, he didn’t know how to react other than to ask me what he could do, since he didn’t know the guy. In the middle of tears I told him who he was and how special every single person that made part of my childhood is for me.

You see, I grew up in this tiny community where my friends and I spent over 20 years together. For me, they are like my family. What goes on in their lives is always important to me, even if years pass without my seeing or talking to them. There are many I haven’t talked to in more than a decade, and now technology is giving me the chance to reconnect with them. God bless Facebook, really.

It doesn’t matter how much time has passed, we always pick up where we left as if nothing happened in between. I’m lucky… very lucky. Those friends were there for me when I was 12 years old and my brother passed away. They were there for me, holding my hand, when I was 25 years old and my father passed away. We there for each other are there every time something happens, good or bad, with words of happiness, courage and sympathy.

A while ago I wrote about being able to look at your past and realize that your biggest success is touching people’s lives in a positive way*. When you become memorable for someone, you’ve done a good thing. Making people feel appreciated and respected is something we all should strive for.

And as much as I love those friends from my childhood, I will love any new friend that touches my heart and allows me to enter theirs.

*Coincidentally, ironically or sadly, that post was written on the birthday of my friend who passed away.

I’m so going to get burned for this one, but I’m used to it. For a thin-skinned person like me, I’m used to creating my little shell when I post my thoughts online. It’s been a while since I went full-speed on George W. Bush, a person I’ve never liked; a very poor leader in my opinion. It doesn’t take a Political Science degree to see the obvious.

Now I see quite a few people making sarcastic remarks and being bitter about Obama’s inauguration. And I’m here thinking what makes it so bad that the U.S. has a new president? Especially after the current (and soon to be gone) government has managed to make the country plummet into an economic crisis like the one we’re experiencing. And before anyone tells me to go back to my country and fix what’s wrong there, this is something that is affecting the world, not only the U.S.

So I really don’t get it. I understand about political leanings and thinking who the best person for the Oval Office is, but things cannot be changed now. Obama is going to be at the White House next week, and for that I’m excited. Not because he’s a Democrat, but because I think this country has had enough of bad policies. And while we cannot blame Bush for everything, he represents everything that went wrong in the last 8 years.

A never-ending war that’s depleting the country’s resources and killing family members is not something to be proud of, nor a reason to believe that the next president can’t make things a little bit better. Where is your faith in your country, I ask Americans. Republican or Democrat… Where is your faith?