Investments in Friendship

My best friend and I met in the eighth grade. Though our lives have taken different paths-I am married with children and do not work and she is unmarried with no children and does work-we still seem to have so much in common. We don’t like to talk negatively about people who are having a hard time. We always try to find the reason for someone’s bad choice or behavior (stress, lack of happiness, immaturity). We do not hide our bad experiences; we share everything. We do not judge each other. We never try to “out-do” each other (when she bought her car I was sincerely happy and did not feel the need to upgrade; when I filled my home with new décor she did not feel the need to redo hers). We respect the people in our lives. When someone mistreats us we do not tell one another to cut them off because we are aware that family and friends are loved and we do not want to “badmouth” anyone that we care about. These common values and rules have allowed us to keep investing in our friendship. We have learned that we can trust one another. Throughout the whole of our friendship we have never violated our trust. This chapter conveyed a lot of the aspects of our relationship. We demonstrate closeness through dialogue and our relationship evolved through stages. This chapter reminded me how lucky I am to have her in my life.