What Tom Luna made me realize tonight...  

For the last few months, I have become close friends with two women. The beginning of our frienship started out strangely. They were running for office on campus and I emailed one of them to offer assistance. Little did I know what that email would start and I am forever grateful that I did email her. These two women are Republican and in a lot of ways we are very different, but we have forged strong bonds, both in the frienships with each person individually, and as our friendship as a group of three.

Because they are Republican, I have to be somewhat careful in what I say when I am around them. I want to be honest and upfront, but I need to exhibit some sensitivity because they are good people who care about others. I joke that they can't really be Republican, they have hearts!

Tonight I got into a big fight with one of them. She voted for Luna (they both did) and I was an diehard supporter of Jana Jones (race of the Superintendent of Idaho Public Schools). It's the same argument I hear from Luna voters, though they admit Jana was more qualified, we needed change, we needed someone who will do something. Obviously that upsets me. First of all, Jana would've been change and Jana would've done something, just like Marilyn Howard did. I ended the fight when I signed off of MSN messenger and went for a walk. I wanted to cool off and I wanted to gather my thoughts.

When I was out for a walk, I checked my email and saw that this friend I had just gotten into a fight with emailed me. I was not surprised, really. This friend is so kind and thoughtful that it astounds me. Seriously, I didn't know people like her existed. She knows I watch Desperate Housewives so one time, just to be nice, she bought me a box of Desperate Housewives Valentine's Day cards. She also bought me something else but I haven't seen it yet. Gifts aren't everything and I don't need my friends to buy me things, but I think we can all identify with the feelings attached with receiving a gift if for no other reason than just because.

She spends her weeks up in Rexburg working on her internship and the weekends here, most of which are spent working her regular job. I miss her! The other night she texted me around 12:30am and asked if I was awake because she wanted to chat. We did chat, for almost two hours. The next morning, we chatted for another hour as she drove up to Rexburg. Then we texted during the afternoon, and talked on the phone after she got off work, then later that night, we imed on MSN before she went to bed. Not everyday is like this, neither of us have the time, but it was so nice to have someone to talk to that often, even if rare.

What Tom Luna made me realize is that frienships are more important than politics. They are more important than most everything and when we find a friendship, such as what I found with these two women, we must do everything we can to protect them.