Friendships

Thanks for all the fun comments on my last post! :)

Friendship is an amazing yet elusive thing to me. I can't quite pinch it between my thumb and forefinger.

Every day I'm at work, I see students trying to figure it out too. There are definitely people they "want" to be friends with [don't we all have that?], there are people who want to be their friend but they aren't quite sure how to stay away from them [ahem...don't we all have that?], and then there are the laugh-till-our-sides-hurt, be-there-for-you-be-there-for-me, know-everything-about-each-other friends [that I hope we all have at least at some point in our lives].

Here is the deal though: just like my pubescent students, we are changing everyday, all the time. We are supposed to learn how to deal with that ourselves, and ALSO deal with our closest friends changing on us.

I have been very fortunate to have some truly amazing friends in my lifetime. Truly amazing. And I've moved away from nearly all of them. [Which is a horrible idea if any of you are thinking about it].

I have some friendships that grew into comfortable territory over the years, and others that seemed comfortable right from the moment we introduced ourselves. I have some friendships that have changed and become more distant with age, and others that have tasted sweeter as the years have gone by.

Why am I thinking of this today? I think there are several reasons. Brent and I have really been missing some of our close and dear and "lifer" friends recently. I have some students that I see struggle everyday to find someone to talk to. I think of this child in my womb and pray that he or she is compassionate and kind and values friendship. I have thought about how my parents have finally become friends to me [finally...because they were PARENTS for 25 years, and still are, but it's different]. I have thought about small-town vs city friendships, what makes them tick, how people meet and hang out in each place. I have thought about how friends have been supportive and excited for us recently. I have watched friends surround someone in my community who is hurting. I have watched my friendship with my husband grow into something real and authentic and honest.

Friends are such a gift from God. But such a tricky thing to establish, and change with, and grow into and out of.

Thank you all who have been patient enough to be my friend over the years. I do not take it lightly.