Circle of Friends

Circle of Friends

When I was little,
I used to believe in the concept of one best friend,
And then I started to become a woman.
And then I found out that if you allow your heart to open up,
God would show you the best in many friends.

One friend is needed when you're going through things with your partner. Another friend is needed when you're going through things with your mom.
Another will sit beside you in the bleachers as
you delight in your children and their activities.
Another when you want to shop, share, heal, hurt, joke, or just be.
One friend will say, 'Let's cry together,'
Another, 'Let's fight together,'
Another, 'Let's walk away together.'

One friend will meet your spiritual need,
Another your shoe fetish,
Another your love for movies,
Another will be with you in your season of
confusion,
Another will be your clarifier,
Another the wind beneath your wings.

But whatever their assignment in your life,
On whatever the occasion,
On whatever the day,
Or wherever you need them to meet you with
their gym shoes on and hair pulled back,
Or to hold you back from making a complete fool of yourself .
Those are your best friends.

It may all be wrapped up in one woman, But for many, it's wrapped up in several..

One from 7th grade, One from high school,

Several from the college years, a couple from old jobs,

On some days your mother, On some days your neighbor, On others, your sisters,

And on some days, your daughters.

I got this poem from a friend in my mail recently . Like most people I too thought of names that would be appropriate against each line. Some lines had even more than one name against them. It is really strange how we automatically categorize friends. And their roles rarely are swapped. May be we do not want to upset the 'balance of friends'.

Gone are the days when a person had only one or two friends (with whom we did all the above). Nowadays a person's popularity is judged by the number of friends he/she has! You have to have long list of contacts in your phone book, on your email, and especially on the social networking sites if you want to come across as a social and friendly person... what a myth!!! Don't you think so?

Friends last only when we work on this relationship as we work on other close relationships. That's when an ordinary friend becomes special... and we can put that name against many lines of the poem.