"I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn... and we are lead to those who help us most to grow if we let them and we help them in return. Well, I don't know if I believe that's true, but I know I'm who I am today because I knew you!" - "For Good" from the musical Wicked.
I certainly know that I am who I am today because of the dear friends that I've had over the years. I really do think that these people are in my life for a reason and that they've helped me learn and grow. I don't think we fully realize the effect that our friends have on us... well, let me tell you: that effect is huge! Ever heard of peer pressure? Yeah. Enough said.
It's funny how many quirks I've picked up from friends of mine, particularly phrases or speaking mannerisms. I also tend to trust my friends opinions, likes/dislikes, etc. so we'll have a lot of the same interests. Some of my favorite singing artists were introduced to me by friends. Some of my favorite movies are ones that I've seen with friends, and we have our inside jokes about those movies.
I LOVE having inside jokes. Love love love love!!!!! If I listed even half of the inside jokes I have with friends, the list would be very very very extensive. My roommates and I finally started a quote wall so that we could keep some sort of documentation of the funny things we hear, but that doesn't even cover half of our inside jokes. Ah, friends cheer me up so much...
I love having super close friends that I can tell everything to. Like my 3 best friends from high school: Laura, Ruzan, and Carolyn. I love them all <3
Left to right: Ruzan, Carolyn, Laura, Me
I also share tons of stuff about my life with my roommates. They are certainly great friends. Wonderful friends. I am soooo thankful that my relationship with all 3 of my roommates is as good as it is. I've heard of more than one person who've had roommates that they didn't get along with or just didn't get to know at all. That's not true with the 4 of us... we have tons of fun together, even if we're just all sitting out in the living room together doing our homework. Donnie, Emilee, and Allison... I love you guys! I couldn't ask for better roomies!
And then, aside from the roommates and the 3 best friends that I hung out with daily in high school, I have other wonderful friends who I may not see as often, but I'm still rather close to. And I love them all.
And not all of them are girls... I have guy friends too! I admit that during high school, I had guy friends, but I would never confide anything to them or get to know them on a personal level or have "heart-to-hearts" with them. They were just... friends who were guys, but I wasn't close with them. My first year of college, I befriended some guys who I spent more time with and got to know better than any of my high school guy friends, but it still wasn't on a level where I felt like I could tell them anything like I could with my girl friends. This year, however, I'm finally reaching that level where I'm befriending boys on a deeper level. Not necessarily in a romantic way, but just caring about their lives and getting to know them on a level that's much closer to the level on which I get to know my closest friends.
And building on that note, I look forward to finding my eternal best friend :) Because that's what I intend on doing: I want to marry my best friend. So when I do start a relationship with a young man that I'm interested in, it's important that we focus on our relationship as friends, not just the romantic stuff. I'll be with this person for the rest of eternity, so it only makes sense that he is my best friend. Now there's a friendship that I can't wait to get started!
I'm thankful that my friends have all influenced me for the better. I'm glad that even though I grew up in an environment where people all around me were making wrong choices, I was able to find some of the few people in the school who truly had some of the same standards as me. I never heard a single one of my best friends swear, not once. They never did drugs, got drunk, partied... yeah, we were the "good girls". But I'm thankful for that! They encouraged me to be better, supported me, listened to me, laughed with me... and I thank them for the memories.
Friendships can last forever.
So let's make sure that our friends uplifting.
That they are worth keeping.
Mine certainly are.
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