You, too? I Thought I Was the Only One.

Author Shauna Niequist, in one of the essays in her book Cold Tangerines, describes coming across a card with those simple words on it. Don't they make you feel like you are understood? They remind me how blessed I am to have so many friends who "get" me.

Last month around the 20th, one of my friends who is also doing the Dave Ramsey envelope system happened to mention how she was ready for the month to be over because her envelopes were almost empty. That simple, honest statement was like finding a friend in the desert. I was not alone in counting the days until the next direct deposit would hit my bank account.

Similarly, I have a friend at work whom I can talk to about any health condition and not feel embarrassed. I go in to talk to her all worked up that I'm the only person who has ever had such weird symptoms, only to hear words that act like medicine to my hurting soul: "I've had that same thing before. It went away after about a week. It's nothing to worry about. You'll be fine."

And last weekend, I caught up with a good friend of mine from high school. Our lives have taken different paths than we had imagined. But we still share so many similarities and are able to share the "You, too?" understanding with one another. That strengthens our friendship to endure the distance gap, as well as the time gap between visits. Because those words can bring us together even if they are only typed in an email or spoken on the phone.