Song for a Friend

An important life lesson I always re-learn while being home?  People grow apart...and it sucks.  Priorities reorder, values waver, and people change.  Cliche?  Maybe.  But I think many of us deny it and hold onto what was, not what is.  Of course, this doesn't devalue the friendship nor does it erase all the memories.  But I think it's only adult of us to realize and accept that the person you once knew may not be the same person.  And that's okay...which brings me to this idea of a best friend.  

You know, like in Grey's Anatomy when Meredith calls Christina 

"my person."

I've always been curious, jealous really, of those who have that ONE best friend.  I always think, it must be nice to have that one person you can go straight to, who you can rant to, cry on, discuss anything with.  You can have several of these friends, but it must be easy, even convenient, to know you can speed dial this one person, who probably knows most of your life story.

I just got home from dinner with lifelong friends...literally.  I've known Sarah since pre-school; as in, we've been friends since we were three, and we haven't grown apart since.  Sure, we attended different schools as soon as I moved from Eagle Rock to San Marino.  And sure, she stayed in Cali for college while I ventured out to Pennsylvania.  Yet after knowing each other for more than 18 years, we still get together with our families and pick up right where we left off.  No, Sarah and I don't Skype, text, or Facebok chat everyday.  Does that mean we're not best friends?

What does best friend even mean?  Are we supposed to save this term of endearment for that one person who you can tell all your little secrets to?    It's not as big as I love you, but maybe I do throw it around a bit too much.  Or maybe I just trust a lot of people and feel that I can be open with them.  But then again, who really knows that much about one person? 

I know that friends like Sarah are rare.  There are few that know where I come from, who I've been, and who I've become.  And perhaps that's the advantage of all the years knowing each other.  But it's these lifelong friends that stick by you.  And it comforts me knowing that I have friends who I don't have to talk to every free moment who will be there for me when I need them most.

People say that you make your friends for life in college.  If that's a case, I consider myself pretty lucky.  I've definitely made great friends at Nova, but I also have lifelong friends already here at home.  So maybe I have the best of both worlds.

I'm done with labels, really.  All I know is that I am thankful that you, yes YOU, are in my life, impacting it in whatever way you're supposed to.  Acquaintance, friend, close friend, best friend?  Who cares. 

I'm a person.  You're a person.  Let's just be real.

Life is good in purple and gold.  Merry Christmas Eve everyone.