I have been very lucky in my life in respect to my friends. My mother quoted my second grade teacher (my last public school teacher) during my high school graduation. Miss Hovey said this about me, "She is everybody's friend." I've always made friends easily and I thrive off of interaction with them. If one looked up "extrovert" in the dictionary, my picture would be smiling up at you.
Unfortunately, when I was younger, I didn't have the discretion I now possess when picking my friends. I befriended people without thinking...without making a judgment about whether they and I could really be friends. Fortunately, I've learned to take a second look before throwing myself in head first. But I still have to consciously make the decision to do so. In public school, I had two friends who both believed that they should be my only friend. This, of course, was a problem. If only I had had the insight of someone slightly older, I would have recognized this in the pattern of behavior of both of them. Well, having one friend was never an option for me, so I spent every lunch break sitting in between them, trying to reason with them. I don't believe I ever got anywhere.
Now that I'm older, I can usually pick out the "kindred spirits" in the room. Sometimes I'm off in my first assessment of the situation, but I can usually amend it if need be. I don't believe I've ever completely estranged someone...but I guess if I had completely estranged someone, I wouldn't know it. Moving on...
Like I mentioned earlier, I have a really great group of friends. They are all kind, caring, sympathetic, and fun. I honestly don't know where I'd be without them. Probably lost in the woods of the world . . . I really truly would be. Here are some great quotes about one of the greatest gifts God has given us:
"Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of joy you must have somebody to divide it with."
- Mark Twain
"The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"The friendship that can cease has never been real."
- Saint Jerome
"Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods."
- Artistotle
"Friendship? Yes Please."
-Charles Dickens
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