Friends want to experience each other’s joys and heartaches as part of bonding with and mending each other. I have watched [my friend] put herself out for me, stand up for me, and bend over backwards to make me happy. I am one lucky woman to have such a blessing in my life. Friends - really good friends - are a rare commodity: you have to have just the right chemistry, attitude, understanding, forgiveness, openness, kindness, and thoughtfulness. A good friend brings all that out in you. A good friend makes you a better person…… Good friends have each other’s best interests at heart and accept each other’s quirks with humor… And consider yourself very fortunate if you have someone who resonates with you in this lifetime. Reference
Few people in my life have taught me about true friendship. I have been able to make many friends over my high school and college years, but few of them have remained. Few of them I would feel comfortable turning to, seeking advice from. Few of them have taught me about real life. Few of them have stuck by me despite my not always loyal actions. Those few, who have been there for me, have taught me mountains about true friendship. Those few, are girls with whom I can share my inner world. Those friends deserve the best life has to offer. Those friends deserve to be publicly thanked, recognized, and noticed for their contribution to my life. I am a different person having known these 4 gals. Through these girls I am blessed. There are hundreds of different qualities true friends have, these girls have many of those qualities. But as I think of each of them, one quality really comes quickly to mind. Girls, I want you to know the strengths I see in you. Girls, you are my true friends. Girls, here is to you.
Julie
"A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out." -Unknown
This girl has Loyalty.
Julie and I met way back in 4th or 5th grade. When my parents divorced, my father moved into the home right across the street from Julie. We became buddies whenever I was at my dad’s house for the weekend. Right away I noticed the loyalty Julie had for me. We were 12 years old playing truth or dare and jumping on the trampoline and I could just sense this strong loyalty she had to me. I don't think she knows this, but way back then, that loyalty she had towards me empowered me. It came as a source of great strength and oddly enough, even a source of some self esteem. No one had ever really ever loved me the way that she had and it felt really good. I never really admitted to her how much she meant to me back when we were young teenagers but I would like her to know now. I needed the friendship she so quickly and unconditionally gave to me. And I sensed the loyalty she had towards me right away. I wish I as a young child I could have helped her the way that she helped me. My dad moved away after about 5 years and Julie and I lost touch a little bit until we happened to get the same summer job working at a girl’s camp. Since then this girl and I have basically been inseparable. The loyalty she has towards me (and any of her friends) has just grown stronger and stronger over the years. We have followed a similar pattern in life. We entered the MTC on the same day. She is the one and only that I can tell everything to. She knows the most intimate details of my life. I tell her things I wouldn’t dream of telling any other person on the planet. And through it all, she has never judged me, never betrayed me, never faltered for one instant in her dedication towards me. I didn’t realize just how loyal she was until about a year and a half ago when most of her family betrayed me. I thought she would stay loyal to her family. I am kind of ashamed of thinking that. I didn’t realize the loyalty that is charred into this girl’s soul. Instead she gave up her family to stay loyal to me. I am grateful for this girl who has taught me about loyalty, and so much more. Jessi
"A friend is one who believes in you when you have ceased to believe in yourself." -Unknown
This girl is Genuine.
Jessi is pretty legit. We met senior year of high school. Prior to our meeting I admired her from afar for quite some time, thinking she was out of my league for friendship. She was the most talented and beautiful girl in school. She was the girl that everyone looked up to. I don't remember how we met, but when we did this girl immediately embraced me. I was flattered to say the least. This girl had the opportunity to be friends with anyone, the cream of the crop. Yet she never for a moment ever made me feel less than that. I myself never thought I was cream of the crop, but she did. Over the years I have realized that she has thousands of friends, yet she has the most amazing talent of making you feel like the center of her universe when she is with you. This girl has come to mean a lot to me over the years. She is wise beyond her years and has given me wells of very useful advice. She is strong beyond normal human strength and I found strength in my heartache by the strength she showed in her heartache. This girl is very close to God and her faith has strengthened my own. This girl is creative and has the Midas touch, anything she does turns into beauty. This girl is considerate and has done a lot that has buoyed my spirits over the years. I love this girl. I look up to her. I'm glad that she chose me.
[Oh, and this girls mamma… one of the most charming people there is to be around. Her influence can be felt immediately. Jackie has no idea how much I look up to and appreciate the person she is!]
Danger
“A good friend will bail you out of jail. A GREAT friend is one who sits beside you and says ‘Wow that was fun!’”
This girl is fun.
I remember the moment the two of us met. I knew her older sister, who recommended that the two of us become friends. We met at job training for a girl’s camp back in 2006 and instantly we were making each other laugh. If you think you know what laughter is, you don't. Not until you have seen Danger and I together. There is never a dull moment with her. Even in the mist of her heartache, the greatest heartache a person can know, she still had me rolling on the floor. If I need to laugh, I call the D-Dawg. If I need to tell someone a crass joke, she is the first that comes to mind. I can't think of a funnier person in the universe. The humor this beauty possesses is unmatched. She is the one person that I can be 100% most obnoxious self with who is never annoyed with it, but instead embraces it. She is the one to call if you need to be cheered up. She is the person to see if you need to do something crazy. She is always happy. She is always optimistic. She is always laughing. And I can't stop smiling for days after an encounter. She is the girl behind so many of my best stories. I love this one. Kristen
"Friends are God's way of taking care of us." -Unknown
This girl is supportive.
Truer words could never have been spoken about this girl. Kristen and I met in 2004 while working together at the girl’s camp. We became friends. We got along well, we laughed together… a lot. We invented Sir Pooka and Sir Hollar, at what was certainly the funniest cookout known to man. After the camp was over she went her way and I went mine. Our lives took us in very different paths and we didn’t really stay in touch. We had a small sabbatical we like to say. About a year ago, for some reason (not really some reason—I'm certain that it was because God told her to) she fairly randomly invited me to her birthday party. She didn’t know this at the time, but I had just broken up with the boyfriend, and almost all the friends I had took his side, leaving me with basically no friends. I mean I had friends but I didn’t have any friends that I could hang out and have a social life with. I shyly went to her birthday party, praying that it could be a place I could make friends and she warmly answered my prayer. She took me under her wing, introduced me to her circle of friends, and stood as a beacon of light in my pretty dark world. A year later, she is one of my besties. The changes in my life that this girl is responsible for are have completely one eighty-ed my life. She acted in many ways as a crutch until I could stand on my own. She never judged me for who I was and only inspired me to become better. She took a desire I had gave me the perfect situation with which to foster that desire. I am a better person because of this girl. I have many friends because of this girl. And possibly best of all, I found a travel companion in this girl. I owe this girl.
The Doc also said,
Frankly, friends are a necessary part of life, and there are all levels of friendships, from acquaintances with whom you can share experiences, to dear friends with whom you can share your inner world.
Thanks to my girls, with whom I can share my inner world.
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