Question...

What does it mean to be a best friend?  When you are little a best friend may last for a day or even just an hour, yet the title still means something.  Who among us hasn't been someone's best friend?  But now that we are adults, what does that term even mean?  Do people still use it?

I have three "best" friends.  One is more like me than I care to think about, one is the complete opposite, and the last is somewhat in between.  I go to them for different things, but in the end I know that anyone of them would be there for me, except when they weren't.

A few months back I was sick, as sick as I have ever been.  I - stupidly - drove myself to Urgent Care and saw the doctor.  It was just a stomach bug but they were concerned at how dehydrated I was and that I couldn't keep anything down.  I needed medicine but in order for them to give it to me by IV, I also needed a ride.  I texted the two friends that share a town with me and neither were able to help.  I know they have their things to do and I should not judge their value, but it did get me to thinking about this question.

What makes a best friend?  Is it the person who will drop everything for you?  Who will always have your back?  Who will stand beside you, right or wrong?  Or is it the person who knows you well enough to tell you the truth, whether it hurts or not?  Is it the person who loves you, but knows that they don't have to prove it to you all the time?  Is it the friends that occasionally need to chose themselves over you?  And does that mean that they need you, too?

I have no answers, only questions.  Lots and lots of questions.

Comments

  1. KacieDecember 12, 2009 at 1:29 AM

    My two cents:

    I think a best friend is all of the above. Like everything in life, it's all gray area and conditional. Personally, I like to think I'm the best friend who can see when it's okay to say when I really can't do something and when it's time to drop everything to help. Like when you were sick, I would have dropped everything because that's a priority to me. Shrug, everyone reacts to things differently though.

    In the first grade my "best friend" and I were "best friends" because we both liked the Spice Girls. From then on it was a democracy as to what we did and did not like. For instance, it took almost the whole bus ride but one day we decided our favorite color was cerulean blue. Funny thing is, it really is my favorite color to this day.

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