Earlier in the evening I was passing by a park in my neighbourhood on the way home when I saw two little girls sitting on a bench with ice creams in hand. It was one of those scenes of such simplicity and cuteness that I wish I had a camera to take a postcard worthy snap.One of the things that I had always wanted is a longtime childhood friend, someone who's been in my life since we were kids. My mother shares a 40 year friendship with her oldest friend, and I have always envied all the memories they share and how well they know each other's families. Of course, we can meet new people and start friendships everyday, but I would have liked to share a friendship that began simply and innocently, like those two girls on the bench. Not a friendship that started from working together or networking, but one that started from sharing jellybeans and Barbie dolls.
As a child, my first best friend move away shortly after her mother died. By chance, I've always had short term friends who would often move away, and being in a time before email and Facebook, it was challenging to keep in touch and kids move on. In the tumultuous years of high school, I admit that my friendships were partly based more on being in a clique, and together with the dramas of that time period, those friendships faded quickly after graduation. Today most of my friends have been in my life for about 5-7 years, and the few great ones who are closer to 10 live far away and it's more like being pen pals. It really hits me that in today's age, people move around so quickly and time speeds up so much that it is becoming harder to find someone who can be there over a longer period of time. It is no longer our grandmother's era when they would sit by the lake and share lemonade and secrets!
But sometimes I would think, how nice it would be to have a friend that stays through the thick and thin, the happy and the sad times? To be our personal cheerleader in the successes of our life and our therapist during the lows? To rescue us in our time of need, to slap us awake when our heads get too big? One who will not bail after an argument, who tells the honest truth when no one else has the courage to, and is humble enough to make up? How great would it be to tell a story and not need to fill in all the details? To have a sister by choice, someone who's seen it all by your side? So if you are one of those lucky few who do, I hope you take a minute and be grateful for how lucky you are!
