I think Winnie the Pooh would make a good friend!

"It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?"" - Winnie the Pooh

Friendships are hard to explain. It is hard to explain how they begin and, in some unfortunate cases, why they end. I have been fortunate in finding several good friends throughout my life that are both still my friends and those no longer in my life. However, even the ones I have parted with, I am forever grateful they were a part of my life! Then there are a couple people that I feel were dragged out of my life for one reason or another and I desperately want them back...

Why is it that we desire relationships so badly? Aside from our inherent needs to survive (food, water, shelter, warmth, etc.), we have a need for relationships in order to thrive and survive happily.

We do not pick our friends. It comes naturally which is the BEAUTY of that type of relationship. I love my family more than anyone; but I didn't choose them, God placed me with them because HE knew they were right for me. However, my friendships just developed and evolved into these relationships (that I miss terribly). I honestly believe that has been the hardest part of graduating from college, missing my friends and this feeling of loneliness I have never felt.

I have learned that you have to WORK at making a friendship survive, and you have to be careful with what you say and do at times. But in all honesty, that shouldn't matter. If someone is truly my friend, they would either: a) take what I say seriously, or b) forgive me. No matter how hard it is, it is WORTH IT. To sit on a couch and watch Oprah, dance in a parking, drink martinis, take naps, watch movie after movie, go shopping, eat meals, drive through the mountains, tell stories, travel, laugh til we cry, cry together.... these are all things you can do alone but with friends, they are SOOOO much more fun (or easier in the crying and laughing case).

Okay, I am not good at the whole serious, beyond thought posts so I am done. Only one more thing:

To my friends: You know I love you. And let's get together soon!!

To the friend I long for a reunion with (you know who you are!): It will come one day. I still love you and I know despite the time and the growing up we've both done, we will be friends again.

"We are all a little weird and when we find those people whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness and we call them our best friends" -Boy Meets World

"True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it be lost." - Charles Caleb Colton

"Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow.Don't walk behind me, I may not lead.Walk beside me and be my friend." - Albert Camus (also attributed to Maimonidies).

"A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud."- Ralph Waldo Emerson (of course I put Emerson in here! You will learn I LOVE Emerson!)

"To like and dislike the same things, that is indeed true friendship."- Sallust (86 - 334 BC) Roman historian

"May there always be work for your hands to do, may your purse always hold a coin or two. May the sun always shine on your windowpane, may a rainbow be certain to follow each rain. May the hand of a friend always be near you, may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you."- Irish Blessing

"A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out."

I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don't believe I deserved my friends. - Walt Whitman

When a friend is in trouble, don't annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it. - Edgar Watson Howe

You can't stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes. - Winnie the Pooh

Our friends should be companions who inspire us, who help us rise to our best. - Joseph B. Wirthlin