Friday 8 June 2012

Friends

A couple of days ago me and my best friends had a girl's night out, celebrating a birthday. As the two of them chatted away I looked at them quietly, noticing how grown up we all are. We’re no longer teenagers sitting on a bed in one of our rooms, loudly talking about what we’re going to wear on our Friday night out and which boys we flirted with last week. We’re sophisticatedly dressed young ladies, sitting in a chic bar, drinking wine from proper wine glasses and chatting about adult stuff.

I don’t think we even see how much we’ve changed over the last ten years, mainly because we were changing and growing up together, confronting problems side by side, always having each other’s back. We aren't called trefoil for nothing.

Sometimes our friend's paths separate from our own and when we see them we immediately notice how much they have changed. A few weeks ago I met an old friend; in the five years since we've finished high school we saw each other only half a dozen times and it’s always nice catching up with her. Each time we meet I see how she’s changed her way of thinking, dressing, talking and so on. She has grown up and I like who she has become. I know I’ve changed too, perhaps much more than she did, and I truly hope that she also likes who I’ve become.

In recent years I've met a handful of people with whom I had developed a friendship; those relationships are somehow fragile in comparison to the longstanding ones. They are like a new-born baby, in need of more frequent attention. Just like we have to support a new-born's head because he is not yet able to hold it up by himself, we also need to take special care of our newly formed friendships. When we talk to someone new we usually carefully choose our words, we think twice before we say something simply because we want to make an impression.

Old friends don’t need to be impressed, they truly know us; sometimes they know us better than we would admit. And that’s the reason why those longstanding friendships are the most precious; those are the ones that are often neglected and taken for granted but should be given special attention because true friends are as rare as gold and worth much more.

As I watched my two Musketeers, drinking wine and smiling, I realised how lucky I am to have not only them, but many other friends, old and new.

9 comments:

  1. You are very lucky to have your old friends, I grew apart from mine many years ago and now we're only in contact via Facebook! I have many new friends though, mainly those I have met due to having children and I feel very blessed to have them in my life. I feel they are friendships I will have for the rest of my life.

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  2. I don't talk to anyone that I knew as a teenager we just grew apart over the years my life became cented around my husband and children theirs not so..........

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  3. You are very lucky! I moved away from all my old friends, but when I see them, it's so easy to fall back into that old way.

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  4. I really enjoyed reading your take on friends and friendship. As others have said you are lucky to still be in contact with some of your old friends it's often too easy to let life get in the way and lose contact.

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  5. I like this post. So true about the difference between old, established friendships with deep roots and the new friends.

    What I enjoyed the most about this post is that I imagine you were writing like you talk. Just putting one word in front of the other and telling the story. Not only did the writer come out for this post, but the storyteller came out also.

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  6. Old friends are awesome :) I agree it's so nice to catch up with them when we run into them! :) Sounds like fun!

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  7. It is impossible to read this without having a few people in mind! beautiful!

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  8. I have only a handful left, but I am so lucky to have them as well.

    Cheers!

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