While driving home from a friend's house the other night, I felt inspired to pop the "Wicked" cd into the car's player and sing away at the top of my lungs. Yes, I'm one of those people who seizes alone time in the car to pretend I'm a star on Broadway. We all have our little hobbies, right?

"Wicked" is a fantastic musical about friendship, revealing that things are not always as they appear. One of my favorite songs, " For Good," begins..."I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason. Bringing something we must learn, and we are led to those who help us most grow, if we let them, and they help us in return."

Can this be true? There are certainly people who have empowered me, making me feel that nothing is impossible. Those I'm so glad and fortunate to have met - those who have made me into the person I am and will become.

Likewise, there are a few people I could certainly do without - similar to the wicked witch who tosses a fireball in the way while on the yellow brick road. You know the kind I mean - they frustrate us, engender a feeling of unimportance, and make us questions ourselves and our existence.

Just like the book, "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" by Harold Kushner, I am reminded that we wouldn't understand what good was if we didn't experience the bad. And as the song notes, they are the ones that help us grow, too, even if not in the way we may have hoped or intended. At the very least, they give us something to rant about with friends!

So embrace those who come into your life - even the strangers you meet who you feel you've known forever. They are there for a reason. You never know what you may learn and the next person you encounter may just be the one who helps you feel like you can defy gravity. Don't get it? Go see "Wicked" (at Boston's Opera House from Sept. 1st -Oct. 17th) and you'll know exactly what I mean!