keepingupwithlife

I love making new friends. There are some wonderful people out there, and if you isolate yourself trying to avoid the awful folks, you miss the chance to meet the great ones as well. Sure, meeting the horrible people in the world gets you hurt sometimes, but I think it’s more than worth it to find the gems that save your life, support you thru troubled times, and are always there when you need them.

If it wasn’t for wonderful friends, I wouldn’t be alive today; if it wasn’t for wonderful friends, I’d be homeless and living on the street; and if it wasn’t for wonderful friends, there would be much less hope and joy in my life. My friends have talked me thru suicidal depressions, given me hope for the future when I had none, listened to me cry, celebrated with me when I was happy, and loved me when I felt unlovable. My friends have giggled at me when I was manic and being silly, talked me out of doing stupid crap, given me advice when I needed it, and told me I was being an idiot when I needed to hear it.

Real friends point out when you’re being an ass, gently if they can, more harshly when that is needed; but they tell you what you need to hear. Any friend who ALWAYS agrees with you, even when you know you’re wrong, is not really a good friend; and if that’s what you’re looking for, you should probably go out an hire yourself a “yes man.”

Friends you’ve had for a while are great . . . There’s a relationship there: you know each other; likes and dislikes, history and sensitive areas, family details and job status. You know bits and pieces, but those bits and pieces form a coherent whole and give you a comfort zone, a place of safety to retreat to when life gets too scary or too painful.

New friends are different . . . You don’t know anything about them yet, and it’s exciting to find out what you agree on and what you don’t, how they feel about things and what you have in common. With most of these folks, you’ll find out that there’s not enough to hold you together, and you’ll drift apart; but every now and then you find a keeper, someone you care about and can spend time with, someone that enriches your life and makes it better than before.

And then there are the special ones . . . The ones you meet and immediately “click” with, the ones that are comfortable from the first moment, that you feel you’ve known forever even tho you’ve never met them before. If you find one of these, rejoice in your good fortune, for these kinds of friends are the rarest of the rare and the best of the best.