Disclaimer : In third grade I had to write a book. My book was about a secret pencil. I think it was magic. In my book, which we had to read aloud in class, I loaned my magic pencil to one of my new friends. This did not go over well when my BFF listened to my story. She was probably mad at me for the rest of the day. In third grade, all day felt like an eternity. That being said, I will not use real names in case one of my friends reads this and refuses to talk to me until the end of the day.
Being a friend means so many things to many different people. Someone once shared a quote with me about the three types of friends.
“We have three types of friends in life: Friends for a reason, friends for a season and friends for a life time.”
Setting the stage; I live a nomadic lifestyle and one of the benefits is having friends scattered around the country. However, not all of these friends make it into the “friends for a lifetime” category.
For example, I shared an instantaneous connection with one friend, Sally. We were inseparable for about three months. Our friendship was so strong because of our personal situations and its convenience. When both of these variables changed, we stopped talking for a while and when we did talk, it was as though we had nothing in common. I had a hard time understanding why we started to fall apart. This is when a good friend of mine shared the quote with me. The quote allowed me to understand a little better. We were friends for a reason. We both needed someone to connect with during a frustrating time and it was easy for us to be there for each other.
Some friends are more seasonal. For example, these types of friends have a really good bond for one season, then the season changes and you are not really sure if you will see each other again. I spent a summer working with a group of really great individuals and had a lot of fun. We celebrated the fourth of July and threw a big party when the experience was over. They will always be good friends, and for that summer they were my best friends. However, when the summer ended the regular conversation starts to fade. I still know what they are up to, thanks to social media, but I don’t regularly connect and we may never hang out again.
Then, you’ve got the friends for a lifetime. They are the friends you have known for a while, or maybe only a couple years but the bond you share will last a lifetime. They are the friends that no matter how long it has been since you have spoken to each other, or have seen each other, you know they are always there and always will be. I am fortunate to feel like I have a lot of these friends. We may not see each other all of the time, or talk on the phone but we still chat every once and while. It is these friends that have become my sisters, brothers and maybe one day I will become an honorary aunt.
There is nothing I would do to trade the people I have met even if they are in my life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.