I am an extrovert. Very much so. I possess very few introverted qualities. That being said, you'd assume that I have a surplus of friends. However, that is not the case. I have a small handful of friends, and a very small fraction of those friends I trust with everything.
Even after explaining that, you may be surprised to find out that my best friend lives in Alaska. And even more surprised to realize that, until Friday the 29th, yes that was just over a week ago, I had never met my best friend.
However, within 5 minutes, it was like I'd known her my whole life, and our comfort level increased rapidly throughout the past 10 days.
We did a lot of things together. A lot. However, there were a few that stood out, that were real signs of friendship for me.
Before I tell you the first example, I have to explain something. Otherwise, the first example will have absolutely no value to you.
I believe, very strongly, that certain parts of your body tell stories. The past, the present, but not the future. This past may, I was driving home from a camping trip with two close friends. And one of them began explaining that the creases/lines on your wrists tell the stories of friendship. You're all welcome to try to inspect yours, but without someone showing you how to bend it, it may be difficult. Anywho, everyone has a large crease right where your hand and wrist meet. That crease represents God, because he will always be your friend, and he'll be there no matter what. After that, everyone's lines are different. We were comparing lines and such, and guessing at who represented which line and so on.
K. Now I'll continue with my story. So, just a few days ago, I'm sitting under the pavilion in the pouring rain, sitting next to Helen. Now, that girl can tell when I'm lying a mile away. I was in the process of telling her what was on my mind and why I wasn't doing so dandy. I had just finished telling her about my problems trusting people too easily, why most of my friendships didn't last, and things of that nature. I was explaining the wrist story to her, and I pulled my sweat shirt away from my wrist and simply stated, "...and I looked down at my wrist, and all I saw was a bunch of broken lines." and I struggled to hold back tears. As I buried my face in my hands, I felt her hand slowly rubbing my back. Once I had gotten control of my self, I continued with my explanation of trust. As I concluded with my feelings of worthlessness and my reasons why, I started bawling. She wrapped her arms around me and stated, "I know I can be a sucky friend. And I know I can't always be there to pass you a box of tissues and a tub of ice cream. But I am gonna try my damn hardest to be there as much as I can, to show you that you are worth something." When she pulled away, we both wiped away our tears. Can I just say, I have never been more grateful for a friend in my entire life.
There was a time where we were laying in bed, listening to music. She had been having a hard night and I could see she was crying. I knew that it wasn't the time nor the place to say anything, so I simply reached over and rubbed her arm and cried softly with her. It was the strongest sense of empathy I have ever experienced.
The purpose of this post is simply this: true friends are few and far between, but the ones you have are worth it, no matter the physical distance. I'm not upset that I can count on 1 hand how many "true" friends I have. I consider myself to he truly blessed. And having friends that live so far away makes me appreciate them so much more when I do get to see them.
I know I didn't mention any of my other friends in this post, but that is simply because I felt like speaking of this past week, nothing from the past. :)
Helen, I love you. Fffffft.
