More Than Words by Nikki

I remember someone saying the following phrase when I was young:

“Friends are here for a reason, a season or forever”

In my experience this is the most truth filled statement I have ever heard in regards to friendships. But you never know which category a friend will fit into until years sometimes decades later.

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I am blessed with some of the most incredible people who I have been lucky enough to call my friend throughout my life and they definitely fit into one of these areas.

A reason: Compassion

When I think of a friend who was in my life for a reason, my mind immediately goes back to first grade her name was Becky. She was only six years old and she had the kindness of an angel. I knew her for six months when she passed away from leukemia. I wasn’t allowed to see her at the hospital because all of the parents wanted to make sure her friends remembered her as she was not what she looked like as she was about to leave us. So for weeks I sent her notes and drew her pictures so that she would know how much she meant to my six year old heart. Thirty-six years later I sit here with tears in my eyes thinking about how hard it must have been for her parents and people who had the joy of knowing her longer and better than I. It was her short presence in my life that helped foster my sense of compassion that I still have today.

A Season: Elementary and Jr High Friends

I had some amazing friendships through out my elementary and jr high years. It was the same group of friends from second grade through eighth grade when I moved. They were fun, hilarious and they loved me at my most awkward permed hair braces phase. We kept in touch for a while after I moved but it would never be the same. Thankfully with social media I was able to look them up years later and see the wonderful people they had become. I will be forever thankful for our childhood memories.

Forever: Soulmates and the family you choose

These are the rare ones, the people you pick up along the way not realizing they will be there through it all. You know who you are. The best friend from high school that no matter where you move or how far away you drift you always find each other. You know something is wrong with the other from five hundred miles away and pick up the phone or send a text even if you can only talk for a moment. Or that friend from college French club whose love of British humor cemented your friendship and you still drink out of martini glasses that you bought each other 25 years ago, across the country while watching Christmas movies. The Sorority Sister who lives far way but you still talk to everyday even if it means you sometimes have a 12 hour time difference. The one you would gladly pay for college all over again if it meant bringing them into your life. Then there are the friends who are newer but you know without a doubt they will be there forever, the ones you trust your kids with, their kids are part of your family too, the ones you can text and call anytime you need anything and you would do anything for.

With friends like these I can do anything. I can be my authentic self, I can be silly, I can be sad, mad, frustrated and deliriously happy. With friends like these there is no judgement or condemnation. I don’t wonder if they talk about me behind my back or if they are only telling me what I want to hear. Honest to goodness friendship. I am a better person for knowing them. I am thankful for them every single day.

My hope for you today is that your life is blessed with friends like these.