This is Day 9 of the Positive 100, a countdown to Rare Disease Day 2014 and an exercise in being positive despite it all.

I am sitting and writing this on Thanksgiving day. It might be an apt day to do this (although, if I was better at counting, today and tomorrow would have been flipped).

Friendship might be one of the most important things. People you connect with. Who matter to you. Who you matter to. I know that I have found incredible strength in the friendships I have developed over the years.

Some are friends in far away places and on the other side of the planet. Some are just far enough away that I can’t see them nearly as often as I would like. Some I have made in cities that I have barely spent time in. Some live close and I don’t get to see them enough because there just aren’t enough days. But these people, each and every one of them, has made an impact. I am damn lucky. I have such amazing friends.

Friends do that. They do anything for you. And that is the greatest gift.

They provide positivity, support and strength when you can’t muster it on your own. They drag you to an ER and learn how to use your emergency epinephrine. And then bring you flowers the next day. They don’t ask when you sit with a blanket at work. They do ask when your text messages are few and far between. They bring gluten-free crackers to a party. They are just there when you need them. They write stories about you in their books.

“Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It’s not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.”
― Muhammad Ali

Share what friendship means to you on Twitter, Instagram and Google+ with the hashtag #100positivedays. Also, you can sign up to be emailed a recap each week of the challenge.