I have a tendency to call many people my best friend.
Each person is a best friend for a different reason, not making them more or less of a best friend, just a different best friend.
There are the best friends who are the listening ears, the shoulders to cry on, the sympathetic saviors.
There are the best friends who are the ones that laugh with you, laugh at you, and laugh at all of your jokes, (even the lame ones.)
There are the best friends that are always up for an adventure, that are there when you call them to rescue you, that will drop everything for you.
There are the best friends that help you to be better, that inspire you to be nicer, to learn more, to give more, to BE more.
There are the best friends that always keep you laughing, keep you smiling, keep you sane.
There are the best friends that you can pour out your heart to, swear at/with, and let out your frustrations with.
Then there are what I like to call the "Ultimate Best Friends" aka, the ones who are all of the above and more. These few people that have touched my life are what I should really call my best friends, because they ARE the best friends I have ever had. Sometimes these people stay in my life and sometimes they leave; sometimes we fall out of touch and reconnect later. Whatever happens with each of these indiviuals, they have all been in my life for a reason. I have learned from these people, I have loved these people, and they have influenced my life in so many unique ways.
I wear my heart on my sleeve. I always have, and I always will. At times I have tried to change that, to toughen up, to mask myself and my thoughts, but that's not me. I am not a masker. I am an open book that lets every emotion play across her face. I am so weird. I am kind of insane. I overthink EVERYTHING. I really don't trust people. I have a hard time letting people get to know me, but at the same time I will answer anything they ask me. I'm afraid of commitment. I feel the constant need to move and meet new people, and experience new things, and see new places. I have a hard time with routines. I'm more self-concious than people might think. I love people more than they expect. I'm really intense and sometimes extreme.
But I will always be my favorite. I have accepted myself. I love myself. I love my quirks. I celebrate them!
I need people that understand that. People that understand me and the things I do. People that understand the crazy. I have to have people that push me to be better, but also let me be when I need it. I can't handle friends that pressure me to do things I'm not comfortable with. I have to get comfortable with it, or I'll never do it. I have to move at my own pace, and in my own way. The way I do things is not the way everyone does, and sometimes I just have to do it my way and not care what others think.
I love friends that are just frank with me and that know me better than I know myself sometimes. I need those people that are like everything I listed earlier.
Those people are the kind that really stick with you.
So to those that have been, are now, and will in the future be that kind of friend to me, I say: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for listening to me. Thank you for making me laugh. Thank you for seeing me cry. Thank you for giving me reasons to trust you. Thank you for brightening my life with your existence. Thank you for loving me, especially at times when I don't even love myself. Thank you for your support. Thank you for you. I love you more than you know. Even if I'm not your best friend, please know that you have been mine. I wouldn't trade our time for anything in the world. Our talks, our walks, our laughs, our memories?
I will be more grateful for them than you will ever know. So again, I thank you for being there, I thank you for blessing my life, I thank you for being you.
M.D.
