friends

backshot, originally uploaded by lmpicard.

I had a conversation with a good friend last night. We probably hadn't sat down to visit in over a year. It was time.

Some people think (and therefore attempt to make true) this notion that friends should be an eternal gift (or at least while you are on earth). Some how we think them like family, that you must keep working it even it the relationship is strained or no longer serving either of you.

I think friends come and go. they are a marvelous gift that is really without obligations (like you must do this or do that - often seen with family). Friends don't have obligations, just commitments made. You do things because you truly care (or don't).

The lost gift is that often we have friends that no longer serve us (or us them); AND some are stuck working it, yet we are free to fill that void with someone who will teach us, guide us, laugh with or at us. I've even found that some of these friends that don't fit, some how fit later when we've both matured in new ways. So different than family, yet its the only family I've really known.