I sometimes take my friends for granted. I don’t mean that I take them for granted in the sense that they’ll be there for me… but in the sense that they’ll want me to be there for them.
I don’t think of my friends based on who will come over and knock on my door. I think an even deeper indicator of friendship is that, if I knock, they’ll open the door and let me in. They welcome me into their world.
There are friends who want to know all about me.
Then there are friends who want me to know all about them… In a deep sense. In a real sense. The types who brave the waters of disclosure for the sake of being known. For the sake of sharing. For the sake of connectedness. For the sake of friendship. They are transparent and honest and authentic and vulnerable with me, and that’s what I value most in a friendship.
My friends aren’t just people that I can tell my heart’s secrets to – but they are people who also trust me with their secrets.
Knowing these secrets is a privilege that I don’t take lightly.
It’s a privilege that I treasure.
What do you value most in friendship?
I value the knowledge (the hope) that the investment has been made that we can share or not share just the right amount. Like we can just be or be more then we need to be. That we are who we are or will become when the time is right. I don’t know if any of that makes sense…but for so many years I have taken peeps for granted and now I am realizing that I haven’t invested nearly as much as I thought so now I hope that I do. That when I spend time with people I invest and love with my whole heart and that it is exactly what they need because I am learning that people (friends or otherwise) are the only thing on this earth worth anything at all.
i value that, too — the giving of one’s true self to me. man, that’s priceless.