“Friends”

My mother-in-law sends me several forward emails a week.  Yes, they’re often cheesy.  But it’s nice because it’s a way for us to feel like we’re staying in touch…and I don’t feel like I have to read my email right away if I’m busy.  The latest one was just so cute, I have to share it:

A sharp tongue cuts me first. 

If I want my dreams to come true, I mustn’t oversleep.

Of all the things I wear, my expression is the most important.

The best vitamin for making friends… B1.  

The happiness of my life depends on the quality of my thoughts.

The heaviest thing I can carry is a grudge. 

One thing I can give and still keep is my word. 

I lie the loudest when I lie to myself.

If I lack the courage to start, I have already finished. 

One thing I can’t recycle is wasted time. 

Ideas won’t work unless ‘I ‘ do. 

My mind is like a parachute… it functions only when open.  

The 10 commandments are not a multiple choice. 

The pursuit of happiness is the chase of a lifetime!

It is never too late to become what I might have been. 

Friends are like balloons; once you let them go, you might not get them back. Sometimes we get so busy with our own lives and problems that we may not even notice that we’ve let them fly away. Sometimes we are so caught up in who’s right and who’s wrong that we forget what’s right and wrong. Sometimes we just don’t realize what real friendship means until it is too late. I don’t want to let that happen, so I’m gonna tie you to my heart so I never lose you.

 ~

Over the past several years I’ve slowly been losing a very special childhood friend. 

Unfortunately,  I took our friendship for granted and thought our relationship was completely hunky dory.  I’m all too much like a guy, I guess, in that I’m not a constant chatter-er.  I’d call her up to chat, oh, once a month or so, and we’d catch up as if the last time we’d talked was the day before.  Or so I thought.  I forgot how much effort a friendship needs in order to stay strong.  And sometimes honesty isn’t the best approach–I have the tendency to be overly honest. 

So for the first six months or so I was silently losing my friend without realizing it.  When I got engaged, asked her to be my maid of honor, and she declined–at the same time spilling her guts that I had been neglecting our friendship for quite some time–now that was my wake up call.  And by that time, it was too late.  By the time I knew enough to say anything, it was too late and–in her mind–there was no longer anything worth being said.  Since then, I’ve had to watch my friend fly away, realizing that it’s not as simple as tying someone to you to keep them forever.  Once you’ve hurt them, it’s too late.