Dedicated to my dear friend Katie...

My friend, Katie, has been going through some tough emotional times. I don't want to invade her privacy so I won't go into details but several things came to a climax recently which caused me to think of Katie and my friendship. We have been friends for several years. We've been through a lot of great times and some bad times. Through everything though, we have remained friends. I wanted to write this blog about friendship... and Katie... and why I define her as one of my best friends. Perhaps she can read this when she's feeling down and know that I love her and cherish her friendship...

What is a friend?

This was actually harder to define than I thought it would be. To get started, I checked the dictionary that stated a friend is "a person who knows and likes another, a person who favours and supports and a person who belongs to the same side or group."

By those definitions I have hundreds, maybe thousands, of friends, but I truly believe it goes beyond these definitions. A friend must do much more than "like you." To me, a friend is someone who knows all about you and likes you anyway. Being a friend means more than recognizing that no one is perfect, it means accepting it.

I, like most people, have many flaws. A friend not only tolerate these weaknesses but also loves me because of them. A friend either helps me see weakness myself without dwelling on them or helps me to overcome some of these weaknesses. A friend is someone who doesn't ask you to change but helps you to grow. A true friend is one who helps you see the truth, even if it hurts. This doesn’t mean we can go around stabbing our friends with hurtful words. Rather, it means being up front with friends about important issues, raising gentle questions with tact and love.

Another important quality a friend should demonstrate is loyalty. This means standing by you when the going gets a little rough, not just in the good times. It means standing up for you at all times, not letting others demean you, and never taking advantage of you or treating you badly.

Being supportive is yet another important quality in a friendship. This means cheering for you when things go your way, and being there during the bad times when they don't. Good friends allow you to make mistakes that you can learn from and forgive you for them.
Real friendships don’t just happen, and they aren’t maintenance free.

Loyalty, support, honesty and acceptance are so important to me that I would rather have 5 friends that fit my definition as opposed to 1000 "friends" that fit the dictionary definition.

Katie... know you're loved, appreciated and a wonderful friend to me. -Jenny