A Real Friend

{Found image on Pinterest}

As I've gotten older and have moved to a few different places in my lifetime, I have learned who my true friends are and who my true friends aren't. And that really is okay when all is said and done...because you can't be friends with everyone! You can be friendly to everyone, of course! But some people you click with better than others. Or you may have more in common with than others. I am also okay with having a few close knit friends vs. a million. Moving around has it's perks but one of the downfalls of moving frequently is having to leave the good ones behind to venture out to the unknown to find new ones and well, that can be downright hard! And sometimes unbearable! Some days I want to throw the towel in and say "FORGET IT! It's just not worth my heart being crushed a thousand times putting myself out there to meeting people that end up hurting me." Sometimes I feel that I have enough friends and don't need anymore. It's hard when you realize when a friend wasn't really a friend at all - the pain and sadness that usually comes along with that realization. Growing up, I had more guy friends than girl friends for that reason alone: I couldn't take all the drama and the heart ache. I still feel that way today. But, along with the few rotten eggs you run into and the pain they may cause, I believe it is worth it when you extend yourself and end up meeting and forming healthy relationships with the good eggs. After all, you can't very well love and appreciate the good eggs so much without coming across the bad ones. 

I'm so grateful for my husband - who also happens to be my best friend! I couldn't have asked for a better man. He amazes me and always makes me smile and laugh. He's always there for me (as I am for him) and I never ever have to question his intentions as they are honest and sincere. I was having a rough time the other day and I'd like to share a little of what I wrote to him:

"Thank you for being my constant and true love & friend in a lifetime of pain and let downs around me. Thank you for loving me, believing in me and finding me. I know life gets busy and some days just down right hard and unbearable - but because I have you, I know I will make it and be stronger for it. I would be lost without you. Thank you so much for taking care of me and our family. You are amazing and I can't think of a better person to be with than you! You are my hero!!!!"

I've been fortunate for the most part since moving here. I have met and become friends with a handful of some really nice and friendly people. With that said though, I have also come to find a few "friends" actually turn out not really earning that worthy title. It's really made me pause and think of what a true friend really is! To re-evaluate some relationships in my life that were becoming toxic and I had to make the decision to end it knowing that letting go of the negative would give me peace again. To realize that not every friend in your life stays a forever friend. In some cases, wonderful friends end up being situational friends. Friends that you had during a certain time in your life that you lose touch with for one reason or another when one of you moves away. Or friends that you needed to have during a hardship and were a blessing but you both went your separate ways when life dealt you a different hand of cards to play. Then there's the friends that no matter the time and distance you've had between the two of you, you can pick right back up where you left off as if time stood still and years hadn't gone by. So thankful for the internet (not something I say a lot!) and being able to stay connected to so many friends and family that live afar. How lost I would feel without those wonderful friendships in my life even if they don't live around the corner anymore! It was really hard getting close to another Marine Corps Spouse that happened to also be my downstairs neighbor for a few months just to watch her up and move away 2.5 years earlier than planned (we moved here around the same time) BUT thankfully she's considered one of those forever friends that no matter where we are living, we will always stay in each other's lives!

So thank you to all my REAL friends! For being there for me as I have for you. For the good times and the laughs we've had; for the hard times and the hugs we've shared. You are loved and cherished and I hope you know that you are so very important to me - no matter how far away we live from one another! How much you are missed!!! What I'd give to see you more than we do and to have lunch together or take our kids to the park or go on a trip to the beach together! (Or in this case, Paris!!!!) :)

A REAL friend makes life more bearable!

Quite simply, to have a friend...you need to BE one! :)