No road is long with good company. ~Turkish Proverb

"A friend is someone, who upon seeing another friend in immense pain, would rather be the one experiencing the pain than to have to watch their friend suffer."
-- Amanda Grier

Have you ever noticed how many different types of friends you can have?
Really?

There are the friends you have that are just acquaintances, like they are nice people and you get along when you are together, but you wouldn't call them to go see a movie or invite them over to hang out or the sort.


it is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Then there are the friends who you hang out with and really love. The sort that you go to have coffee with for an hour and end up spending hours with. The kind that you would wish only the best to, but lets face it, if you are watching The Office and you missed a call from them you probably wouldn't return the phone call until at least that episode is over, or maybe a few more episodes.


True friendship comes when silence between two people is comfortable. ~Dave Tyson Gentry



Then there are the friends who really the only way to describe them is to say that they truly touch your soul. They are the friends that you find yourself wondering at times why they aren't magically sitting there with you. Why they don't just live in your house with you. Or you wish you could bottle their essence for those tough times when you just need a bit of them there. The friends that you can go awhile without seeing and yet when you see them it seems as though no time has passed, but rather an enormous amount of things have just happened in a short time. Yet you can see them everyday for a long stretch of time and never run out of things to say or do together. The ones that you feel your heart breaking over the thought of not seeing them for a while.



The best kind of friend is the one you could sit on a porch with, never saying a word, and walk away feeling like that was the best conversation you've had. ~Author Unknown

Please tell me you know what I am saying.....
My mom and I were talking about this just a bit ago. One of those late night front porch talks. Oddly enough the mosquitoes weren't biting too badly.
I mentioned that I was really sad at the thought of someone falling out of my life again and how it really hurts. Then we started talking about how it feels different depending on the friend. Some friends you are sad to see leave yet you know it was ok, the friendship was great but meant for just a season. Then there are those ones that break your heart when you don't see them. It feels as if they cease to exist after you part ways.


The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. ~Elisabeth Foley


Then I started thinking about the friends I have made over the last few years. The friends that I don't really talk to anymore but at the time of our friendship it was way amazing. Then I thought about all the friends that I will be leaving this fall when I move to Boise. Which one of those friends will I miss the most? Which ones will I find myself asking "why is this person not here right now" about, and which ones will I see pics of and say "wow that was a fun time, I bet they are doing great."?


Friends are relatives you make for yourself. ~Eustache Deschamps

I really think the reason this almost "level of friendship" exists because of how our spirits recognizing each other.
This must seem absurd to a person that doesn't believe in a spiritual realm, but it makes perfect sense to me.
Our spirits recognize what sort of role that person will play in our lives, and what traits that person has that can help us grow into the person we are meant to be.
Now I'm sad thinking about all those people I will deeply miss. Yet, I am excited to see where everyone's lives take them, whether I am a part of it or not.
I wonder what sort of friend I am to the different people in my life?



What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. ~Aristotle