Friendship

Hi Everyone.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about the meaning of friendship. What makes a good friend, and once we have them how do we keep them. I feel I learnt my meaning of friendship early on because of some frights I was having with friends. Looking back, in a way I am happy I experienced those fights when I was younger because it made me think about what a true friend is, and those girls I was hanging around with weren't really my true friends. I recently read Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen. (On a side note, some people who had read it told me that they didn't really enjoy it. I on the other hand love it.)

One part in the novel sort of inspired this post. Ruby, the main character, is given a English assignment to take a word and find out what other people definitions are. Her word was family. This got me thinking about friendship. Everyone has their own meaning of the word, and I believe how you define friendships, defines the relationships that you have with your friends to a certain degree. I personally feel one of the hardest things of friendship is growing apart. Friends that you have grown up with are suddenly not the same person that they once were, or perhaps its you that has changed. But it affects the friendship, just the same and someone ends up hurt. In many ways I find that this is almost worse then fighting with a friend, because neither of you has done anything wrong. You want to save the friendship but you don't know how, and you each have your own lives and different friends then you once had. Its difficult. For me, I think the meaning of friendship is constantly changing as I make new friends and discover who I am as a person. In my friends I want people who are going to be there for me and support me.

Sometimes when I think about all the friend trouble I have had in the past I wonder if I am a bad friend, but then I think of all the friends I've had for years and those that I continue to make. My best friend is like my sister, in fact we used to pretend we were twins. I've know her since I was 2 years old, and we have had our ups and downs. There was a year when we fought, and weren't talking, I don't even remember what the fight was about. Yet we were able to work it out, and even though she now lives in another country we still talk almost on a daily basis and we see each other at least once a year, usually more. She's been there through so much, and I know that I can call her and she will drop everything in order to listen and I would do the same for her. Friendship is one of those things that is always changing, at least for me, and I am constantly struggling to find a new definition.

Whats your definition of friendship?

Love,

Belle