FRIENDSHIP -- BLOG OFF FOR BREAST CANCER

--Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same--

I have been fortunate in my life to meet some amazing people and have been blessed with friendships that have changed my life. I really don't believe that we could make it through this life without friendship. I always hear people always say that as you get older finding those lifelong friendships become harder and harder to come across. I am not sure I totally believe that. I think maybe we become a little more closed and a little more guarded as we get older. At least that is how it is for me. But I do know that in the last couple of years I have met people that are not only my friends but friends who will be around for the long haul.

I love the kind of friendships that just happen. You know the ones. One day you just meet someone and a simple conversation turns into a friendship that you never saw coming but you are so thankful you now have. Those friendships are the ones that come so naturally to you that you never have to work at it.

Recently I have reconnected with some old friends from way back when. It is an amazing feeling when you realize that they have thought about you just as much over the years as you have them. The test of true friendship in my opinion are the ones that are still there after all that time, after all the separation and years of not speaking you realize that bond never went anywhere in the first place. One of my best friends from my teenage years and I have recently gotten back in touch after almost 12 years. There is no good reason for the years between then and now. We simply grew apart, we lived in different places and led different lives. I have realized though that all those years we were out of touch our friendship was still there. That bond that made us so close in the first place never went away, and I am so excited she is once again a part of my life. Her and her fiancee will be coming here to Boston in a few weeks and I cannot tell you how excited I am to be able to hug her and just be in her presence.

--Those truly linked don't need correspondence. When they meet again after many years apart, Their friendship is as true as ever--

I think too often we take our friendships for granted. I certainly know I am guilty of that at times. Sometimes I think back on friendships that have been lost that i know had I been a little less stubborn that relationship could have been salvaged. But such is life. You live, you learn and you move on and you pray to God that the next time around you will get it right.

Sometimes people come into our lives at just the right time. One of my friends who I hold very close to my heart is a friend I met about a month before my mum passed away. Her best friend had died the month before in a horrific car crash so we had that common bond of loss and grief. We found solid ground to stand on together and in the midst of our grief we found a friendship that has no boundaries and no matter where either of us go in this life the place she holds in my heart will never change. While grieving her own loss she stepped in and helped me through the hardest time of my life. In some ways she saved my life. When I needed to cry, she let me. When I needed to yell, she let me yell at her. When I needed to hate the world, she let me hate her. When I needed someone to yell at me and put me in my place she did, and when I needed to just be silent with someone I could do that with her. It didn't matter what it was, she was everything I needed her to be and THAT is the kind of friendship that I hope we all can find at least once in our lives.
This is a post for the Blog Off for Breast Cancer. Feel free to click on any of the links on the right to check out any of the other blogs involved. Also, if you'd like to make a donation to Courtney, please click on the banner below.