Friends are Free

This morning a Taylor Swift song came on Pandora and Claire saw the picture on my phone and asked me "Who's that girl?" I answered, Taylor Swift. She replied "I want to go see her!!" She was thinking that this "Taylor Swift" person was just a random friend that I have, haha. I said "Well Claire it costs a lot of money to go see her." She didn't quite understand,  of course, she is 2.5 and doesn't grasp the concepts yet.
This got me thinking. Why does it cost so much money to go see a person? What makes that person so much more valuable than anyone else? Don't get me wrong, I attend concerts,  I know that it costs money to put on a show. I am just wondering now why we pay so much to be in the same vicinity as someone that the world has deemed a celebrity.
What does it cost to go see a friend or family member? Nothing.  (don't get technical with gas and maybe lunch, haha).. In my opinion friends/family are worth much more than money can buy.
So, that made my lunch date with my friend Suzi today all that much sweeter. I realized that she was choosing to spend time with me because I am valuable to her and I was choosing to spend time with her and she wasn't making me pay anything to see her, and she is ENTERTAINING people! (Well actually all of my friends are entertaining, that's why they are my friends).
Suzi and I haven't seen each other since a funeral a few years ago for a co worker. A man that we all admired for his strength and courage to never stop fighting for his health. His favorite show was the biggest loser, (mine too) so when I see it  I think of him and his courage, his funeral and the girl he left behind that loves him still..(Also,Biggest loser premiers tomorrow, just in case you love that inspirational stuff like me.)
Suzi told me her story, a story I will never forget and I will cherish forever. I told her she needs to write a book, and I am serious! She met a boy when she was at a summer camp as a young adult, they worked the camp the next year together, of course like stories go they fall madly in love. Then she never heard from him again!! She has wondered all these years, what happened to him? Why didn't it work? (Long story, but we decided it was God's perfect timing!) They lived their separate lives, went through many trials and hard times and then....She found him recently and he asked her the exact question she had always wondered. "What happened to us, why didn't it work?" She was dumbfounded, how could HE ask this? Here is the Nicholas Sparks part, he told her he called and wrote everyday, but her letters were returned and her father told him she didn't want to speak to him and to stop calling!! Her dad returned the letters. She is still loved, had been loved, was loved and thought it didn't exist for her. Why her dad returned the letters and sabotaged her love doesn't concern her now. She has been reunited with the one her heart desires and she is happy. I am so incredibly happy for her.
I am glad that I got to meet with Suzi today, glad I get to meet with any friends at any time. Beware friends, as I am writing, I may write about you! (of course I will ask for your permission first, because I'm nice like that. By the way, thank you Suzi for letting me share your story here).

Isn't it so wonderful to know that people that love us, want to spend time with us and care about us will let us do so for FREE! We don't have to pay $100 to see them from a distance and simply listen to their voices from afar. We can interact and be a part of their lives. Distance may separate friends from those they care about, but in Suzi's situation time and distance ended up being no obstacle at all.
If spending time with someone is costing someone something, probably not money, but something they hold dear, I woud advise they don't spend time with that person. If someone is hurting on the inside, their self worth diminished, they feel like less of a person because of another's insecurities, hatred and ugliness inside I would say get away, fast. RUN. Those people are not friends.
However, if there is someone you know you can't live without, you hold them dear, and they bring out the best in you.. spend time with them. Treasure them. Treat them like they ARE a celebrity, as if you actually would pay $100 just to be in the same room as them. True Friends are golden. I am blessed to have many.
 Friends shouldn't cost a thing. Friends are free.