Fast forward a few years from now. There's a vision that comes to mind, one that has been conjured up over the years of flighty friendships and inconsistent personalities. There's a vision, but chances are is that it will be separate from what reality will be. As you keep your finger on fast forward, faces come and go, but they are unrecognizable because there are few people that you have truly gotten to know and care for and there are fewer who have taken the careful time to get to know and care for you.
However, in this sickeningly overwhelming life, there are some people you just keep coming back to, and these are the ones you don't have to hit fast forward to know that they'll be there years from now. You are unlikely to realize it in the moment, but typically there remains a constant during both the calms and the storms, that person who's the first to know what went unbelievably right or wrong only moments afterwards. That person who wakes you from naps with "I'm on my way to the emergency room," calls that end in, "I just wanted to tell you because I knew you'd be mad if you heard it from anyone else." That person that you love to hate on some days but need in order to love on other days. That person who is a friend to you when you can't find the heart to love yourself.
That's the catch. Life would be too perfect if you got along with yourself 100% of the time. However, the times that you are incapable of loving yourself are the times you are capable of growing independently, and they are also the only times you find the little bit of healthy dependence you need in order to push past your low points. You may be independent, but you will never be alone thanks to the person who picks up the phone when no one has time to listen and speaks with truth when your perception is clouded.
What sets a friend apart from a good friend, though, is time. Life gets busy, but you know you've got someone you can trust when you can't tell that their life is probably more hectic than yours. They'll spend an hour and a half on the phone talking about nonsense just to get your mind off of the crisis you called about. No matter what, it's more important than what they are doing, even if the exam that is being crammed for is tomorrow. Life gets busy, but a true friend is never too busy for a Skype movie on a weekday when tragedy strikes or a last minute road trip in between shifts at work.
It's easy to take these people for granted and easier to lose touch with the impact their actions have on our lives. What they do may be the smallest things, but as time goes on, they add up. I don't think I've once thanked my best friend for the hours he has spent listening to me complain, panic and worry, but I think that's because I've become so accustomed to having him in my life that I've forgotten that life is and has never been all fun and games. Even though the times we spend together are mainly filled with laughter and ease, it's easy to look past the times we have needed one another to lean on and how difficult it was to listen to the pain in the voice of the other.
It's easier to go through life knowing that there is at least one person who will always be on your side, whether he/she agrees with the course your life is taking or not. Nobody ever said that it was easy, but we all need that friend who lightens the load and softens the blow of the punches that life throws. Time moves on too quickly and in larger increments than we can wrap our minds around, but the small hours we spend with the people we love will always remain.
