TRACY TALKS

FRIENDSHIP IS EVERYTHING

In the dictionary, one of the definitions of the word ‘friend’ is ‘a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard’. If we are lucky, we get to have one or two of these folks as part of our lives. These are the ones who are special; not the acquaintances but the ones with which we have a soul tie. You know…true friends. These are the ones who would do absolutely anything for us and we would gladly reciprocate with no hesitation. They are those one or two people from whom no secrets are kept. On the flip side, they also are the ones who can keep your deepest secrets when you confide in them. I sincerely hope that you have had at least one person like this at some point in your life.

Sometimes, we look at the friends that someone has and then make a judgement about them based on the company they keep. This is never good. Sure, birds of a feather do flock together, but we also have cases where some of our closest friends may seem to be nothing like us. On the surface, they may not look or act like someone we would know. We hold these tried-and-true relationships in a special place in our hearts. Maybe they came from our childhood and to someone on the outside, these comrades now seem so different from who we have become. These long-term friends are the ones who can honestly tell us when we are

BY TRACY SIMONE

getting carried away or going too far with something. They are also the ones to whom we listen when no one else can seem to get through to us. They are the first to be happy for us when something good happens and the first by our side in times of sorrow.

Your real friends will let you be who you are and will appreciate you for your uniqueness. They can see things in you that you sometimes cannot see in yourself. They will share in your life

and will become an important part of your journey. The real ones will go along with you even when they don’t agree with what you are doing or how you are doing it, but then still be there to pick up the pieces if your plans fall apart. They may not have agreed with what we were going to do, but they loved us enough to encourage us to at least give it a try and they allowed us to be ourselves. They are also the ones who will talk sense into us if we are just a bit too far out there. things to you that no one else is allowed to. Once we get that real friendship bond with someone, it can never be broken. No amount of time or distance can weaken that connection. If life gets busy and you don’t get to speak to each other for a while, once one of you picks up the phone it’s like the conversation picks up right where it left off the last time. These are the people we cherish because they feel like home. They mean the world to us, and we hope for nothing but the best for them.

There is no pain like the feeling we get when we mistakenly thought that someone was a friend and, in our corner, only to find out in the end that they were not. People come in and out of our lives and their purpose is to teach us things so that we can grow. Our true friends are just that. True. Trustworthy. Reliable. There is no jealousy. There is no envy. There is love and patience and kindness. There are only good intentions. Sometimes we may need to agree to disagree, but real friends always maintain respect for one another.

Sometimes, being a great friend is just being there to listen. No words required. These are the ones who come first to help set up and leave last after they help you clean. They listen to you when things don’t go well on your job or in your other relationships. These are the ones on the speed dial.

“Some people think that they should have lots of friends but that has never actually been for me. One or two real friends is all that you ever really need.”

If you should fall, they will catch you and you know that they will.

Some people think that they should have lots of friends but that has never actually been for me. One or two real friends is all that you ever really need. I’m still in touch with those couple of folks from my childhood. Someone is always digging up an old picture that no one even remembers and then we laugh and even make fun of how we looked back in elementary school. Everyone either had that punch bowl looking hair cut or the 2 braids.

We enjoy each other’s company and reminisce about the good old days. Back then, we didn’t wear seatbelts in the car or helmets on bikes. We wonder where the time went and how we ever got to be this age. These folks are our foundation. Friendship is everything.