Best Friends

I have been thinking off and on all day today about Sam's post on best friends. I have gone over this subject so many times in my life. Too many times in the past I called different people "best friend". I do not regret that I had or still have those relationships with these people but I can see now where many of those relationships were no where near what I now consider to be "best friend" relationships. What I mean by this is that my perspective of what a true best friend is has changed and matured. I believe that we will have different best friends in our life time and some of those who were my best friends when I was younger were for that time in my life. But when I think of a best friend now, I think about a best friend whom I know that 20 years from now I will still be in close contact with. I have a couple of those friends that I am proud to say are still my friends now. I have one best friend that I have been friends with steadily for the past 15 years. I have another friend who was my best friend all through elementary school, middle school, high school, and now we are still close. But in general, I only have two girl friends who I call my best friends. I know that I can count on these two no matter what time of the day. I can be myself, even on a bad day, and know that they will not turn their back on me. I am grateful for them and their relationship. Our relationship is that in which our feelings are mutual and we are willing to go the distance to make the relationship work no mater what. In any relationship, it takes both people willing to go the distance it takes to make the relationship work. It just like a marriage, you have to be willing to work at it.

And while I'm on the marriage subject, as Sam mentioned spouses, Mike is my best friend. In my eyes he is my ultimate best friend, the one who is always there, and is more dependable than anyone else, other than God himself. It is always a given that he is my best friend.

As I end my rambling, I just want to say how grateful I am for all of my friendships, for they are each unique and special in their own right. I am open to God bringing others into my life and would gladly call them friend. And if it so happens, I might even find another best friend. But in the mean time, I am content and happy that I have the ones I do.

So here's to new relationships and the old ones who have traveled along with us.