According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a friend is:
1. a: one attached to another peson by affection or esteem
b: acquaintance
2. a: one that is not hostile
b: one that is of the same nation, party or group
3. a favored companion
i won't drive myself (or you for that matter) trying to define a term that has unlimited meaning. i just want to write about that for now.
i miss my friends back home. they're the ones i grew up with. they're the ones who have seen me play street games and the games of the heart. they're the ones who offered their hands to help me stand back up when i tripped and fell while playing dodgeball...same hands that reached out to me when i was lost and felt like there was nowhere to go.
1. a: one attached to another peson by affection or esteem
b: acquaintance
2. a: one that is not hostile
b: one that is of the same nation, party or group
3. a favored companion
i won't drive myself (or you for that matter) trying to define a term that has unlimited meaning. i just want to write about that for now.
i miss my friends back home. they're the ones i grew up with. they're the ones who have seen me play street games and the games of the heart. they're the ones who offered their hands to help me stand back up when i tripped and fell while playing dodgeball...same hands that reached out to me when i was lost and felt like there was nowhere to go.
They are the people who...
• sincerely look out for me - they don't have some kind of a knife concealed in their cute, tiny, glittery purses, ready to stab me in the back the second i turn around.
• genuinely want to spend time with me - not because i pay for a game of pool, or because i was seriously addicted to coffee before and would offer to pay just so someone would go with me...
• mean it when they say i look great shedding off some major pounds - not secretly wish that something catastrophic would happen that will guarantee me seeking solace in food and gaining back the weight i've lost...and more.
• feel really sorry when something bad happens to me - not surreptitiously rejoice over the fact that my life sucks.
• are honest enough to tell me when my outfit doesn't match - not furtively do a dance number knowing that other people are laughing at my total lack of fashion sense.
• are proud of my abstinence - not castigate me and accuse me of being such a liar. just because they can't keep their legs closed doesn't mean i can't, too. i have values - something i believe a lot of people are absolutely oblivious to. there's nothing wrong with being a 20-something person taking care of that one thing she's only supposed to give away after she gets married.
there's a special kind comfort knowing that they're still going to be there for me when i go home even after many years of being away. we keep in touch and it's absolutely amazing how we can talk to each other as if the distance between us is nonexistent. It's so reassuring to know that there are people in my life like that
I've made a promise i do intend to keep even if it kills me: i'm going to keep these people in my life.
