Friendships

My best friend since university – Jackie.  She drove 3 hours to see me when I was home in Nor Cal.

Last year was a little tough for me.  I learned who to draw myself closer to, and away from.  My heart got bruised – but I learned to let go, forgive, and trust that space and time can heal wounds.  As the years go on, I realize that not everyone is meant to be close to you and some are not meant to carry through life with you forever – sometimes they are there for a while and God puts them there when you really need them, and life and careers can change it, but it doesn’t mean goodbye forever.  And sometimes, it does, and that’s OK, because you can still be incredibly thankful for that friend because you know you spent good time with them, and your heart did so every well when you were together.  But that was 2013.

This year, it’s almost over in a blink of an eye and I have spent the year surrounded by those who have supported me in ways I never knew I could be supported.  These past three months I’ve been spoiled being surrounded by them through visits!

When we’re young, we can make friendships with almost anyone because we don’t really know ourselves very well – and they typically are on the surface because our souls aren’t mature enough to be much deeper.  Being social is really like an extra curricular activity which is exactly what you do in your youth – do everything you can to figure yourself out.  When you get older, time is put into perspective and you realize time isn’t to be spent with just anyone.  Life experiences happen, careers change, crisis occur, babies happen, and you begin to see who lifts you up, who makes time, and also come to the realization you can’t be friends with the whole world.

But the friends who are in your world and have stayed, they become so much of your world.  They are the ones you bounce ideas off of, meet up for laughs, travel the world with, ask for prayer, advice, and they hold you accountable to be the best person they know you can be.  And those are the people who you keep in your life – the ones who can catch up as though no time has passed at all, who remind you of your spirit when you think you’ve lost it (and your brain), the goals they know you can achieve, and you delight in them and are filled with so much joy because you know a friend that good is worth their weight in gold.