You’ve Got a Friend in Me

Throughout our lives, most of us come into contact with thousands of people.

Most of them we forget the moment they leave our line of vision.

Some of them become intense, short-lived infatuations.

A few become our friends, serve our purposes for a few months or even years, and then go their separate way as we go ours.

And sometimes, only a handful of times in most peoples’ lives, you meet someone and know within minutes that your life is never going to be quite the same.

One year ago, when I least expected it, I had one of those meetings. I had no idea what was to come.

I’ve been lucky enough to have friends good enough to call best friends throughout most of my life. My friends have always been few but extremely close. Some have managed to stay with me through childhood, through the rocky road of adolescence, and are still a part of my life today.

But somehow the friendship that began that night last March was to teach me more and affect my being more profoundly than those that had gone before it, and in only a fraction of the time.

Over the last 365 days I have realized how selfish I was in my past friendships. I loved my friends, but with conditions. I forced my views. I judged. I believed in logic over loyalty, regardless of the cost. Actually, I’m not sure how I retained those friends over the years.

I have finally truly been able to see the value in not only having a friend but in being one. Being one when it’s fun, and when it’s not. Through hysterical laughter and hysterical tears. Through excited chatter and dead silence. Through joy and heartbreak. Through accomplishment and failure. Without conditions.

I know what it is to shed tears purely for someone else’s pain. I know what it is to feel helpless because you can’t take it away. I know what it is to converse without words. I know how long it takes for my face to start hurting from laughing. I know the difference I can make in a person’s life simply by being on their side.

I know now that I can give love and acceptance and compassion to another person just for who they are, without limit, and not for what their friendship can provide for me. And I know that I am a better person than I was when I woke up on March 14, 2009.

To my best friend, Andy, thank you for being my friend. And for letting me be yours. No matter what happens from this point forward, I will never be the same person I was before I knew you. Happy friendiversary. 🙂

I will always be there to laugh as you cringe in embarrassment.

And maybe by next year you will let me take a decent picture of us.

♥