Dear (insert your name here):
Growing up, you had your friends that you lived next door to. You had your neighbors that you used to play with. You had your school friends that you used to hang out with in the cafeteria. You had your friends that you'd join on the same teams in gym every time you went to class.
You even had your friends that you'd ride the bus with to and from school. Some of us didn't ride the bus. So we had our friends that we'd walk back and forth to school with. We had our friends that we'd ask our mom or dad to give a ride to school with us because we liked hanging out with them.
You had your friends growing up that you thought you'd be friends with until the end of time. You'd go to the store with them, you'd go to the movies with them, you'd hang out with them at the mall, you'd go on dates with them, and you'd have them spend the night at your house. You always thought they'd be there forever. They would be your best friend.
And then they found a new friend. They got a job. They got their drivers license. They got a boyfriend. They got a girlfriend. Some of them got a boyfriend and a girlfriend. And here you were, thinking that you'd always be friends with them. And now they were gone.
But don't worry. You have your whole life to find that best friend.
I know that as you grew older, you kept thinking that you'd met your best friend. You'd found that one great person that you could always call, could always text, could always talk to, could always trust, and could always tell everything. And then they got a boyfriend. Or they got a girlfriend. Or they got a job. Or they found new friends. And all of the sudden, you found yourself going out with other friends, meeting other people, and thinking that you'd lost the best friend you'd ever had.
But don't worry. You have your whole life to find that best friend.
Now think about the day you started college. You found all of the cool people that you wanted to hang out with. You found new friends. You found people that you thought you'd be friends with forever. You went to parties with them.
You hung out with them at the mall. You went to movies with them. You even went on dates with them. You talked to them on the phone. You texted them day and night, sharing your life, telling them your secrets, sharing things you wanted to share, and telling them things you wouldn't tell anyone else.
You felt good inside.
You thought you'd finally found the best friend or friends that you could ever ask for. And then, things started to change. They moved on. They graduated college. They found jobs. They got married. They had kids. And you found yourself on the outside looking in. Wondering, asking yourself what went wrong, and hoping that you'd found that perfect best friend in the world.
But don't worry. You have your whole life to find that best friend.
And now think about what's going on in your life today. You are married. You have kids. You have a white picket fence. You have a good paying job. You drive a nice car. You mow your backyard. You go out with some friends. You get phone calls.
You keep busy.
You take the kids to baseball games. You go to football games. You coach your kids sports. Maybe you do dance lessons with your kids. Who knows, maybe even you go out with your relatives, your family and friends.
And you always wait for that one phone call to come. You wait patiently for that person you knew so long ago, so many years ago, that person that you called your friend. But that call doesn't come. And you have to ask yourself again what happened. You've gotten older. You've moved on in life. You've found new things. You've got a new job. At this age, you might even have grandchildren. And you don't know what happened.
But don't worry. You have your whole life to find that best friend.
This is the story that people have told me throughout my whole life. And I'm midway through my life right now. if people live until they are 100 years old, that means I'm halfway to being dead.
And guess what?
I've had a dozen best friends. I've had a hundred best friends. I've had people that I thought I could trust for eternity. I've talked to people about secrets that I thought I could trust with the world. And I haven't ever truly had that best friend. It just hasn't happened. I've had great friends. I've had real friends. I've had fake friends. I've even had people in my life that I should never have called friends.
But don't worry. You have your whole life to find that best friend.
That's the statement I've heard since I was a kid. You have your whole life to find that best friend. And I'm here to tell you, at almost 50 years old, that is an outright lie.
There is no such thing.
And I'm not telling you that to hurt your feelings, to break your hope and faith in people, or to crush your pride. I'm telling you that because it's honest. and I'm also saying this - Make the most of every friendship you have.
Make the most of every minute of every day you have with a friend you have, with someone you call a friend, with someone you trust, and with someone you can talk to. Don't rely on that one best friend.
Don't rely on that one person. Rely on a lot of people.
Trust in a lot of people. Because that one best friend that you're going to find may never happen. And if you hold out your entire life for that "one best friend", what's going to happen when and if that best friend doesn't come along?
Do you really want the answer to that question?
Make the most of every day you are given. Enjoy every second that you have in this life. Enjoy the friendships that you are blessed with. And don't wait for that one best friend. Because if you really have your whole life to find that best friend, and they don't come? You wind up waiting your whole life for one thing.
Nothing...