True friendship is wonderful and can give you some of the most amazing memories you carry with you your whole life.
Friendship is defined as:
1. the state of being a friend; association as friends: to value a person's friendship.
2. a friendly relation or intimacy.
3. friendly feeling or disposition.
But to us, the feelings of friendship run far deeper than any words can express. True friendship doesn't require you to see someone every day or every week. Sometimes life gets in the way of friendship, but when you truly have people in your heart, it doesn't matter how long you've been away, its always like coming home when you see their warm smiles on their faces for the first time in a long time! And sometimes I get overwhelmed and want to cry with such emotion. I have friends in California I haven't seen in over 10 years and I miss them terribly! I wish I heard from them more often and, to my detriment, I haven't kept in touch as well as I should have either! But just because I'm absent doesn't mean that I don't love them as much as, if not more, than when I left there to move back! I MISS YOU GUYS!!!
For me, friendship is knowing that someone is there, if you need them. Knowing that you'll get invited to a BBQ or a friendly gathering of like-minded individuals. It could be going to a Sci-fi convention with my buddies OR it could be just having a bead night with the girls. It could be a group board where I haven't even personally met anyone in the group, but I hold all of them in my heart, every one of them. I remember the things they post, the trials they've gone through and I haven't even met them in person. And sometimes on a board you don't care about talking privately because you figure you'll never meet these people anyway. And then you make a life-long connection that makes you happy each and every day, just to get a text! I find it very difficult sometimes to verbally express how I feel to them and I only, truly hope that they know, in their hearts, that I love them all.
I believe I'm going to have to start telling my friends how I feel!!
How much does friendship mean to you? I'd love to hear!!
Hug a friend today!
Great blog topic, Doreen! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and perspectives on friendship. As I grow older, I realize more and more the importance of friendships and just how fleeting they sometimes are. I've had friends who I thought would be friends forever, only to find that is not true. Oftentimes, it's truly "out of sight, out of mind". That's sad. Friendships have to be cultivated and cared for, and in our hurry up world, that's sometimes difficult to manage. I've always heard that in one's lifetime, one only has two or three genuinely close,true friends. I don't know how accurate that is, but I wouldn't find it surprising if it were. I value the friends I have now, and lament the loss of others in my life. I know I'm partly responsible for their demise, and that saddens me. One of my best friends was made on an internet board seven years ago. We've been around each other in person only once for 3 days, but we know each other VERY well. Amazing how that happens; strange and wonderful world we live in!
ReplyDeleteThanks, again, Doreen! I'm glad circumstances, the internet.... and fate... brought the two of us together, and I'm honored to call you "friend".
I concur with everything Janice said. Doreen, you are a True Friend to me for life. I have to admit that I'm rather dysfunctional with my friendships. I'm an oddball and am not a good fit with lots of people. But sometimes I withdraw and fail to carry my weight. (how ironic)
ReplyDeleteOne observation I have to cast out there is that, I was surprised when I retired how many of the people I counted as friends were apparently just my co-workers. It's not easy to know the difference.
I am your friend. xoxoxo
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