I’ve been thinking a lot about my friends lately – rather, I’ve been thinking about the quality of my friends. This is, I’m sure, a normal thing to do when one is busy planning his wedding, especially when that wedding will include a small ceremony in another country (and trying to figure out who you can invite when you can only have 25 guests).

So let me say this: I have great friends, people who I know will be with me forever, regardless of where life may take us. These friends were the theme of my entire weekend as I traveled to the Eastern Shore of Maryland for the marriage of Meredith and Chris, two people who used to be co-workers but who are now on that list of folks I know I’ll always be close to.

I’m really very fortunate to have people like Chris and Meredith in my life. They are people who have watched my dramatic changes in the last few years, and yet they’re sticking around, happy to offer a word of encouragement or a shoulder to mope on.

This weekend, I was able to connect with these people and share hours of laughs and hugs and dancing and talking. We all come from different backgrounds and have different ambitions, yet we share this common place where we can joke together, cry together and just be friends.

I truly am blessed.

p.s. A special shout out to the friends of my friends who I finally met this weekend – several of them said to me, “So you’re the Dharma Monkey!” Thanks to all of you for being so special to the people I care about!