Friendship...

I got an e-mail today from one of my mates. The subject read "For Jenny". All that was contained inside was: "still here, still alive, speak soon"

I get little notes like this from her when neither of us have made contact for a few weeks. It's her way of telling me she's still about. We don't have as much time to spend with each other anymore, what with kids and jobs and stuff but I know all about her life and she mine. We still gossip like we did years ago when we did have the time, telling each other the scandal and drama's. Not bad given we haven't seen each other in 5 years!

Thing is it's dawned on me it doesn't matter if your friends are on the doorstep...as long as they are somewhere.

I have friends in all forms, from aquaintances to true friends. All of them offering something different. The trick to friendship is knowing the difference between the types of friends you have, knowing when to let one go and when to compromise your feelings and put up with their shit because they're worth holding on to.

I look at it this way...

An aquaintance will tell you you look good in something you don't.
A real friend will tell you that you look like shit.
A true friend wouldn't let you buy it in the first place.

An aquaintance will ask for the gory details if you get arrested.
A real friend will pick you up from the police station when you get released.
A true friend will be sitting beside you in the cells saying "now we're in trouble!!"

Here are a few quotes I found while pondering the friendship thing:

"Your friend is the one who knows all about you, and still likes you." -- Elbert Hubbard

"True friendship is like good health; the value of it is seldom known until it is lost" - Charles Caleb Colton (1825)

"A true friend is someone who is there for you when he'd rather be anywhere else." - Len Wein

And the final word on friendship goes to one of the heroes of the 20th century...

"When the end comes, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

Jenny xx