Friends

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A friend is a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically exclusive of sexual or family relations. At least according to the dictionary.
That being said, friends come in many shapes and sizes; not just in appearance, but also in energy; in what you share together that makes the friendship so valuable to both of you. The other thing that is an interesting variable is that some friends turn out to be life-long friends, while others, even close friends, come into your life for a certain period of time; and then drift away again. This may imply that even for something so precious as a friendship, there is a place and a time.

It means that there are friends that you have known for all of your life, and then there are friends whom you have just met recently. There are friends you have yet to meet. And there are friends you recognize from a long, long time ago…

Whether it is a friendship that only lasts a number of months, or a friendship that stretches throughout lifetimes doesn’t say anything about the quality of the friendship, or how easy it is to be good friends. After all, while there are many reasons why a friendship can drift apart, the important thing is to be good friends for that specific period in your lives when you are close. And on the other hand a friendship that lasts multiple lifetimes can be wrought with all kinds of life lessons you have decided to tackle together rather than handling them on your own; something that can bring its own, specific problems into the bond of friendship you share.
Therefore, you don’t have to always like your friends. You can be at odds with your friends, for instance over a certain situation, yet still remain friends. Perhaps because underneath everything that happens there is an inherent sense of trust; a knowing that the friendship will prevail.

When you cannot weather the storm together, you may not have been true friends from the beginning. Again, something that in and of itself is not a bad thing.

Ultimately it is good to have friends. To know yourself surrounded by those you know and trust, with whom you share a bond of mutual affection!
And the only thing one has to do to allow a friendship like that to grow, is to be as good a friend to them as you would wish your friends to be to you…
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