There are certain people that you meet in life and know instantly that they will remain in your life for a very long time. You get each others references and laugh at each others jokes almost instantly upon meeting. It becomes hard to picture a moment going by without having them to share it all with. Then, when the biggest things in your life happen, you’ll quickly learn which of those people are true friends that will remain with you forever.
Marilyn Monroe was once quoted as saying,
“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good thinks fall apart so better things can fall together.”
Those people who change for the better, are there when things go wrong, pick you up when the lies of others fall apart and are there to cheer you on when better things come together are the type of friends that become like family to you. You’ll fight like siblings, tease them about whomever they date whether you like them or not and give them a hard time when they invent words to describe situations. However, at the end of the day, those are true friends.
Looking back in life I realize I’ve had a long list of aquaintances or co-workers I was friendly with while we worked together, but a very short list of those that I can call true friends. The people that if I called in the middle of the night would drop everything to rush to my side if that’s what I needed are true friends. Likewise, they are the people that I would do the exact same for in a heartbeat.
I’ve known two of them for about a decade and met them in connection to someone else who ended up being the worse friend we could all share. The best thing we all ever gained from that guy was each other. He might have turned out to be the most shady person we know, but we’re all better for having each other in our lives. We met when we were all in college and whether we’ve lived in the same house, across town from each other or in different states we’ve remained friends through thick and thin.
I’ve always considered myself as an only child; that’s almost accurate. I have a step-brother, but he chose to be estranged from our lives so we never shared a house and have had very little interaction over the years. Therefore, my closest of friends are my extended family. The Maid of Honor for my wedding last year is better than any sister I could have hoped to have. I’m incredibly honored to be her Maid of Honor for her wedding next year. I can’t imagine not having her in my life and have missed her very much this year as her wedding planning has kept her busy within her own life.
Utter excitement isn’t enough to describe how happy I am to have my other friend finally back in the same state as me. He lived out a dream we both had by moving to a city we love and spending a good chunk of the years we’ve known each other there. I couldn’t be more proud of him for going out on a limb and making the dream come true, but I’m so very excited to know that he’s now only a very short car ride away so we can catch up over dinner in person instead of over Skype. Friends like these cannot be replaced and definitely leave a void in your life when they are missing from it. I’m looking forward and hoping that 2015 is the year that we all finally get to grow closer again as we continue to evolve through this crazy adventure called life.