Bottoms up Mate!

Friendships are an amazing thing because they can be lengthy or new, but they share the same qualities of care and goodness and honesty and support and they have the ability to grow and deepen and even to be tested and appreciated.  They are certainly not to be taken for granted, because they are precious and a lot less easy to accomplish, than may be first thought.  To identify a friendship is also not that easy because there are times when someone shows intent to begin a relationship and then it appears that really the friendship is nothing more than an acquaintance because of a common goal or a specific event in life that brings you together, or even a similar interest which lasts for some time, but then fades away.  So it is that we end up with many more acquaintances than friends and by the time we mature we are lucky to have a handful of true friends.  There are friends that understand us completely and they seldom judge but certainly tell us the truth whether it hurts or not.  They encourage and appreciate us for who we are, but they also value our input and feedback in their own lives.  It is never a single unilateral relationship that over powers the other even though there may be times when the one person needs more attention than the other.  Proper friendships do not keep score of whose needs are more or less, it persists and continues to yield amazing results.  Your words to a friend are taken at face value and trusted and unlike acquaintances that are looking to get something from the relationship, friends offer loyalty and a willingness to be more selfless than selfish.  There is so much to be said for not only having friends, but also for being a friend and once established these relationships are worth cherishing and celebrating.