Explain the term “Best Friends".
∆nSwEr can be fuNNy.........!!!!
Answers
No one really teaches you how to be a good friend. There is no manual on friendship, and even if there was we are all different and our expectations and needs are unique. Of course there’s an entire section in bookstores on Relationships, but the focus is always on romance, rarely platonic friendships. Yet we value those relationships as much as (or more than) we value romantic relationships. Friends are the family we choose, and they are there for us through everything. This I can say is true as I’ve been the recipient of this loyalty, and it is no longer just a cliche to me anymore. Friends really are there through everything.
It’s so easy to make friends when we’re kids. Go up to kid on playground. Ask to play. Tell them you want to be friends. Repeat. Sometimes an occasional recess snack sharing is involved, but that’s pretty much it. We have so many friends when we are kids, in part because everyone we meet becomes a friend but also because our lives are simple and so being a good friend is a lot easier.
I was in elementary school when I met Sonja. She was really tall, kind of loud (but in a good way) and hilarious. She exceled at sports, the teachers loved her, and she had so many friends. But not just the cool kids, see, Sonja was everyone’s friend. I was pretty excited to become her friend and felt especially stoked that she invited me to register for hip hop dance classes at a new studio not far from our house (this would later become my second home for the next 12 years and had a great impact on the person I became, so, thank you Sonja). Although she quickly learned hockey, ringette and volleyball were more her thing, she stayed in dance a little longer to appease me, but also came to watch and support me. Oh, and how could I forget that I roped her into raising money for kid’s cancer research and shaving our heads together at the end of grade 6. If entering junior high with a buzz cut isn’t a sign of a loyal friend I don’t know what is!
Junior high was relatively painless (once our hair grew in hehe), and I am the first to admit it’s in part because I had Sonja. Of course putting hundreds of pubescent and hormonal girls (and guys) together is a recipe for drama, Sonja always had my back. It didn’t really matter how much another girl could my feelings, because I knew Sonja would make sure I was okay and felt important, and she would even stick up for me. Plus, Sonja was Sonja (those who know her know exactly what I mean). Somehow she went through junior relatively unscathed and I think it’s because she knew who she was and was who she was. She was never trying to be anyone else, she was just Sonja. Tall, loud, easy going, funny and friends with everyone. I really admired her ability to be herself and I would often try being more myself because of her example. Looking back I find it remarkable that she was able to be so confident and awesome at 14.
Not much changed through high school and university, except that we were both city hopping for school from LA, to Lethbridge, to Toronto, to Norway and more. Sonja has consistently remained Sonja: best friend to all, tall, funny, great at sports, smart and well-loved by all she knows. We’ve always stayed in touch (like she full on wrote me letters and sent gifts from Norway! Who does that?), but we really got close again in the last couple years. And I am so glad we did.
This spring my life turned completely upside down. Everything I knew and loved was taken from me, and I experienced a betrayal like no other. I didn’t know who I was, I physically couldn’t function, and at times felt completely alone. No one prepared me for the heartbreak, confusion and profound loss I was feeling. So, certainly no one could have prepared Sonja on how-to-handle-a-best-friend-living-across-the-country-going-through-the-worst-thing-she-will-likely-ever-have-to-go-through (aside from sicknesses and deaths, but we don’t want to think about that yet). Yet, somehow Sonja knew exactly what to do. And for those of you looking to be a good friend to someone who’s suffering, take notes now.
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