There is nothing in this world like friendship. You can be friends with your family, your coworkers, and your significant other. Whoever your most cherished friendships are with, there is nothing like them.
True friends can be hard to come by. There are always people who may make you think they are your real friends. You believe that you can trust them with anything. You believe they will always have your back, but thee next day your secrets are sprawled across everyone's mouths and you’re wondering why you ever called anyone such a words as “friend.”
You know when you find them. The second you meet that real friend, whether it’s by putting yourself out there and reaching out to them, or them reaching to you first, I promise you know. It’s like a relationship that you “know” will work, but this actually will.
Every inside joke brings back a glimpse of a precious memory that only you share. Memories with the people who matter most are never lost in the whirlwind of all your other memories, they are the ones you keep on the outside. Every embrace reminds you of the home you have in a person, instead of a house. You have built a foundation with them, but torn down the walls that once stood between you, and they are your home. Every shared laugh sounds like your favorite song that you sing together in the car when the windows are rolled down and you have no destination. When you honestly ask yourself which people in your life mean the most to you, you’ll realize that it is the people who, instead of giving advice or solutions, share your pain and touch your open wounds with a warm and healing hand. That silent friend who sits with you while tears run down your cheek, who will stay with you for as long as you need. The friend that can be okay with not knowing what happened and not being able to fully make it okay, but who will just st with you, that is a friend who cares.
They say “friends are the family you choose.”
Sometimes though, you don’t even have to choose. Someone pops into your life, or makes a reappearance and just like that, you know they’re here to stay. I have plenty of friends, but I have just a handful of friends that I know, when I’m laying in my bed crying at 3am, or stranded on the side of the road somewhere, I can call them and they will be there without hesitating. That is when you know someone is family. When you know they would do anything for you, and you’d do the same for them.
So, I want to say thank you. Thank you to the few, precious people who came into my life knowing they would want to stay despite everything life throws our way. Thank you for protecting me from a broken heart, for never letting me do anything by myself, and for filling my life with the most belly laughs I could ever ask for. To the ones that have been here for what seems like ever, thank you for sticking around. Your friendship will never get lost or left behind on the side of this long road of life. To the new friends I have made recently, you have completely blinded me with happiness and laughter and that is the most beautiful thing you could do for me.
“I think if I've learned anything about friendship, it's to hang in, stay connected, fight for them, and let them fight for you. Don't walk away, don't be distracted, don't be too busy or tired, don't take them for granted. Friends are part of the glue that holds life and faith together. Powerful stuff.”
-- Jon Katz
