What truly defines friendship? Is it shared interests, mutual support, honesty, vulnerability or something else? What qualities do you value most in a friend? Friendship is a special relationship between two or more people who care about each other and enjoy spending time together. It is a bond built on trust, mutual respect and support.
What does friendship mean to you and do you consider it a gift? I met my oldest and dearest friend, Annie, over seventy years ago when my parents and I moved to Notre-Dame de Grace in Montreal. We were inseparable and her cousin of the same age joined in all our antics and fun. We soon met other friends on our street. Though she and her husband have been living in Kingston, Ontario for many years and my husband and I in Saint Lambert, we still cherish the bond of friendship and try to meet up every few months. I made new friends in both grade school, high school and college. I do remember the bond I formed with one particular friend, Marie-Lyse. We even went on a student trip to Europe when we were seventeen, so many memories!
In the next chapter, through my children, I have made lasting friendships through school activities, organizations, groups, etc. We are there for each other through thick and thin and through laughter and tears. True friends do not walk away, they stay, they listen.
It is often said that one chooses their friends, not their family. In my case, as an only child, I married into a large family, my husband being the eldest of six children. I do consider them not only brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law but brothers and sisters and good friends.
I should quickly mention that there exist, unfortunately, three red flags that appear and can most certainly ruin a friendship. They are consistent negativity which is a pattern of pessimistic thinking, lack of support and jealousy.
I would like to include, as per usual, a few quotes on friendship.
“To the world, you may be just one person but to one person, you may be the world.” Dr. Seuss
“True friendship resists time, distance and silence”. Isabel Allende
“The language of friendship is not words but meanings.” Henry David Thoreau
“Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” Maya Angelou