Friendship for Life

Friendship is the elixir for life’s troubles, the bandage for a torn soul and the cast for a broken heart.  To have a friend is to have two times the fun and half the hardship.  My best friend is a woman I have known since grade school.  Over the years we have been through a lot and have done a great deal of growing up.  Most importantly, what we have done, we have done together.

Through the years I have often wondered how we could remain so close, and I believe I have finally figured it out.  On many things we had very little in common.  We never fought about boys because we never liked the same ones.  We never borrowed each other’s clothes, because we weren’t the same size.  We never fought over money as neither of us had any.  We don’t look alike, we don’t dress alike, we didn’t study the same thing in college, and we don’t have the same type of jobs.  There is probably only one thing we do have in common.  We both have a special friend.

I can vividly remember going out for pizza one night we and preparing to correct, or at least address, all the problems of the world.  A few moments into our discussion, and our meal, I caught sight of the concerned look on my friend’s face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her.

I could see her trying to choose just the right words as she shifted in her seat and leaned forward.  “Well,” she said finally.  “You know only your closest friend would tell you this....”

All at once I was dreading her words and anticipating a major catastrophe in my life.  “What is it?”

“You have olive stuck in your teeth.” 

Best friends

I remember being hassled on night at a local chili cook-off (boys will be boys.)  All of a sudden all 5 foot 2 inches, 100 pounds of my friend, came to my rescue.  She informed these young maniacs in no uncertain terms that their behavior was unacceptable, or words to that effect.  Amazingly to everyone around us these 6 footers took heed and lumbered away.  I can’t say as I blame them, I wouldn’t want to tangle with her either.

Then there was the time that, in a state of nervous agitation over an upcoming appointment, I sprayed mouth freshener on my neck.  My friend never missed a beat.  She simply picked up the freshener and proceeded to spray her own neck.  She theorized that if one person does something out of the ordinary it’s weird, but if two or more do the same thing it is a bona fide fad.

To my best friend I can reveal all my secret dreams, but need not mention my faults.  She already knows them, and they don’t matter to her.  She is my mirror and sounding block, but never my judge.  She supports me in my endeavors, not necessarily because she believes in them, but because she believes in me.  To have known her for so long is a joy, to have her as a friend is a privilege.