Shorts

I've learned a lot about life in my 40+ years here on planet earth.  Enough that I could probably write the perfect country song.  Except, thanks to David Allen Coe, it's already been done.

But today I'm thinking about girlfriends and how much of an impact they can have on our lives.  I'm talking about those friends you have had ever since you can't remember not having them. 

I have a few that are my friends, but two who have remained my closest friends even though LIFE has kept us from spending much time together over the past few years.  Well, more than a few, actually, lots of years.

We go through childhood, our teen years, our young-adulthood and we have:

a)  boyfriends

b)  serious boyfriends

c)   husbands (well, plural in my case, but hopefully only one in most cases)

Most of the time our girlfriends are right there with us all the way from (a) through (c) - and beyond if necessary.  We may not see them more than once a year or even more than that, but we know that they are only a phone call or email away and they will be there for us.

We forged these friendships as we learned who we were.  Our girlfriends helped us become who we were to become.  They know the good, the bad and the UGLY, and still care for us anyway.

What has caused me to be on this train of thought is the way I see the younger girls today with their own friends.  It seems the days of unconditional love and understanding just aren't around much anymore.

If you're mad at a friend nowadays, just post it on your MySpace or Facebook stats.  You can say a lot in one little sentence and then the whole world knows just what you're thinking.

I can't imagine hurting any of my friends the way I see some of these girls do today. (and maybe boys too, but my experience is with girls)

They just can't see past the moment of "now" when everything changes with a whim.  Today they may say hurtful things about someone and the whole world is mad at them, and then the next day they are buddy-buddy again. 

It saddens me.

I think our generation, as archaic and out of touch with reality we are deemed to be, had something special going on in the area of friendships.  I know we weren't perfect and made mistakes.  We hurt our girlfriends and they hurt us.  But the difference, I think, is that we weren't so callous, so quick to judge, so eager to hurt others.  I think we were more sensitive and caring of our friends' tender hearts than the generation of today.

I know there are many exceptions to what I'm talking about, so please don't be offended if you're a young person reading this who has known the joy of unchanging friendship.  I know there are young girls today who are kind, caring and would never in a million years be unkind to their girlfriends.  There are tender hearts who care about others' feelings - I know many of these girls/young women personally and for that I have hope.  I have hope that this generation will "grow out" of self-centered thinking and intolerance. 

I have hope that in their tomorrows they will have treasured friendships that will last a lifetime.

It amazes me the way everyone is everyone else's "BFF".  It changes daily, and even hourly in some cases. 

We had BEST friends.  And it wasn't 20 or 30 different people.  It was one or two at the most.  Because we knew what BEST meant. 

Best meant there was nothing better - Webster's defines it as "surpassing all others in excellence."  SURPASSING ALL OTHERS!

Best meant there was no one who loved us more, deep at our core.  No one else who would stand by us when we did something deeply shameful, or highly embarrassing.  Not "fair-weather" friends, but BEST friends.  For LIFE. 

Blessed is she who has friends.  The kind who won't be fickle and throw you to the wolves when it fits them to do so.  The kind who sees your mistakes and instead of pointing them out, they do their best to keep your indiscretions from the world.  The kind who acknowledges you are not perfect, but will defend you if someone else dares to imply that you are flawed.

I dedicate this blog to my BFF's - Neetie & Gretchen.  They've seen it all, been knee-deep in it with me, and still I know they're always gonna be my "go-to" people.

May LIFE bring you friends who last forever

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