Being a friend is to like a person for who they are, even the parts you don't understand. The reasons you like them makes the things you don't understand unimportant. You don't have to understand, or do the same, or live their lives for them. If you truly care for them, then you want them to be who they are; that was why you liked them in the first place.
I'm a person of few true friends. I can probably count them on one hand. Some I see everyday, some it's been months, and one has even been a few years.
It strikes me as odd though - friendship does. Think about it a minute, you meet someone through school, through work, at a bar, from a friend of a friend, and you spend time together, have some laughs, share stories, help each other through hard times - all the friend things. You come to trust this person, you trust them through your smiles, through your tears, through your accomplishments and even through your failures. If you're a good friend, you do the same for them in return. There's nothing tying you to this person, the bond you share can be severed at anytime, yet you come to trust them with your...everything.
I look at my friends and I love them all. They have all taken time for me, thought of me, patiently waited for me to open up and let them in. I think I've done a pretty good job of reciprocating as well - I hope I do. I hope my friends know how thankful I am to have them.
I'm thankful for my family too. Family - the people you are tied to for your whole life. No matter what, you can't change the biology. You can't escape them, it's not a choice. I don't know my family very well. Result of being a "whoops" - the child born after the other kids are grown and leaving. When I was old enough to build relationships, my sisters were building their own families. They didn't/they don't owe me anything. I don't ask for anything in return.
I look at my family and I love them all. I'm sure they wouldn't believe me but, I do. My mom, goofy as she is, she's the only one I've got. My Dad, I miss my Dad, I miss my Dad a lot - I'm sorry I was so young that I couldn't see past his illness to enjoy what I time I had left with him. My sisters, all three of them...each so unique in their abilities, and their talents, their intelligence. My brother, always the advisor, the guidance counselor. My nieces and nephews, that I am so proud of for their accomplishments again as unique as they are. They're my family - couldn't change it...wouldn't change it.
It's odd though that the bond of family which is unbreakable takes the most work to maintain, contains so much anger, hurt, and jealousy, while friendship, which is essentially a choice just comes naturally. Why can't we treat our family as we do our friends? Why is that?
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