There must be some sort of "tie that binds" when it comes to good friends. I have a dear friend who I've known since I was 8 years old. There are years where we've talked 3 times a day almost every day of the year depending on the circumstances going on during those years (marriage, having kids, raising kids, divorce, etc...) and there are years in between when we talk only 3 times a year. It always just feels good to talk to her though.
She is someone that knows me. She is the one that passed me the "you bitch" note in 6th grade because she thought I was stealing her boyfriend, someone neither one of us ended up "dating" (like you really "date" in the 6th grade), and she was the one that made me realize that no boy is worth a lifelong friendship. She is the one that was there in 4th grade when our house burned down, she was there for all the ups and downs that middle school & high school brought our way, she was there for my wedding and for the birth of all three kids, she was there when I went to college and she was there when I came home. She has vented to me and cried on my shoulder and I hers.
And the eerie thing is, that yesterday as I was headed home, I was thinking, wow, I missed her at Christmas this year. I sent the card, but I didn't talk to her at Christmas. Within 2 seconds of thinking that thought my phone rings and guess who it is... It's that bond that after 25 years we have with each other. We have that sense when the other needs us and when to just drop a note to say hello. The last time I talked to her was when my Grandfather passed away and she called out of the blue. She knew I needed to talk and there she was.
Friendship, real friendship, is like that. You move past the stage of wondering if "she doesn't like me anymore" that still dwells in us girls long after the elementary playground days of whose friend is whose; and, you move past the childhood jealousy of the other gaining new friends and spending more time with them. You move into that realm of friendship where there is no passage of time, when a call to chat is the same as if you spoke to her two days or two weeks ago, not two months or more. And when time changes so many things in this world around us, it is comforting to know that some things, some people, really don't change. We get older, we take one more and more "stuff" to keep us busy and to introduce to new people, but we are the person we have always been. We are that friend on the playground back in elementary school that kept the note from an upset friend as a reminder that friendship is worth more than a cute boy with a contagious giggle and smile. Friendship is real and it will hold you together when your life seems to fall apart.
Friends will tell you, "girl, you totally screwed that one up" or "friend, you should have known better..." They will tell you with all of the hurt that honesty can bring and you will accept it as that - truth and honesty, not judgmental or bitter. And it feels so good to know that even though she is the friend I have known the "longest" that I have been blessed with many friends who are more than "friends" but are true lifelong friends that will be there. They will be there to laugh with and share the moments that life brings, good and bad. They will be there to say something off the wall to make me laugh or cry, and they will be there when I think all of life may fall apart around me; and they will tell me to say no, to slow down, or to go for it... And, well, today... Today I just feel lucky to have all these friends!
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