Best Friend

A Best Friend is...

“Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never ever the same” (Unknown).

What is a “best friend”? Almost everyone has one, and almost everyone is one. There’s something about a best friend that cannot be duplicated. Everyone has their own definition of what their own best friend is like and what an impact he or she has made in their life. In this essay I would like to take a better look at some of the simple things that we might take for granted when we think of our best friends.

A best friend is a title held for the few and privileged. The term cannot be thrown around loosely. Not just anyone can be called your best friend. A best friend has to first meet several qualifications and have many outstanding characteristics to have the honor of holding such a prestigious title. Being a best friend is more than someone that you’ve seen everyday and grown up with. A best friend can be someone with whom you’ve known since childhood but can also be someone that you’ve just met, and similar to “love at first sight,” you just click with. The true definition of a best friend is someone that knows you inside out and would go to the ends of the earth for you. Through thick and thin, a best friend supports you and helps you through tough times. A best friend does not back away from you when you think you’ve lost it. Those are the times that a best friend is always there for. A best friend is someone with whom you’ve shared your most intimate secrets with, and laughed the loudest. She probably knows you better than anyone you can think of, definitely better than your parents, and sometimes better than you know yourself. She has seen you at your worst, and helped you be your best. A best friend is not afraid to tell you the truth, even if it’s something that you don’t want to hear, because she knows that often times it’s not what you want to hear, but what you need to hear that helps. And although best friends go through rough spots and have some problems, best friends do not stab each other in the back, take advantage of each other, or “dis” each other for a guy. A best friend is someone that you can go to with all your guy problems, family problems, school problems, or just when you are having a bad day. She is your psychologist, your tutor, and sometimes the backbone of your foundation. A best friend is always a good listener and always seems to know exactly what to say and have the best advice, even if it isn’t taken right away. A best friend always sees a guy’s flaws before you do, and she is quick to let you know what they are before you fall in love. A best friend will always tell you that you look good, even on your worst days. She knows what you look like without make-up and she knows that’s not your real hair color, but she’ll never tell. She went with you and held your hand when you got your belly button pierced and she was there with you when you mom threatened to rip it out. But, luckily, a best friend is always good at putting your mom in a better mood and making her forget all about it. A best friend always understands you, or at least pretends to, and she is always willing to listen to your opinions and never criticizes them, even if they are a little weird. A best friend is like your sister and has often times been mistaken for one. She is part of your family and treated no less. She comes to family functions like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter and makes fun of your strange great-aunts with you. She knows all the family gossip and always buys your little sister a birthday present. Best friends always talk about the future in terms of “we,” knowing that they will be best friends for life. A best friend will be the maid of honor at your wedding and you know that you will automatically be one at hers, whenever that may be. You’ve already made plans to name one of your children after her, in hopes that one of them is a girl.

Best friends always have inside jokes that seem stupid to everyone else but get you rolling on the floor every time you mention them. Best friends have a secret language with special codes that no one would ever be able to crack. They have boxes of notes that range from topics like your first kiss, to your first time, and who wore what to what teacher “unfairly” gives F’s. They have millions of pictures together in picture frames and on bulletin boards all over their rooms. Best friends have other friends but none as special as the one they call “best”.

For best friends there is a feeling, and an emotion for every event shared together: a feeling of love, and a feeling of hate; a feeling of happiness and a feeling of remorse; a feeling of laughter, and a feeling of tears. When best friends go through these emotions together, they learn and grow from them and become closer than ever before.

Even when your best friend moves hundreds of miles away, you can always feel her with you and know that she is always thinking about you in the same way that you are thinking about her. And although best friends may grow apart and not talk to each other as much, it is safe to say that true best friends are the ones you have for life. When times are tough you always know that you can turn to a best friend whenever you need to and she will automatically seem to make the bad times feel insignificant. When you have a best friend for life you feel like you are never alone and can face anything with more strength and courage than the rest. Simply put, a best friend is someone who makes such an impact in your heart and someone that you will never forget.