This thing called Friendship

Friendship is something quite hard to describe.

Webster defines it as a "friendly relation, or attachment, to a person, or between persons; affection arising from mutual esteem and good will".

A very decent definition.. but yet an inadequate and lackluster one for something so special between people.

As we get older, we make new friends.. sometimes in places we least expect..

Through my gym, I got to know many new acquaintances... most of them very nice ladies. For reasons I can't understand, I'm especially friendly with 2 of them and enjoy their company very much. Just recently, we tried (and failed) to reason out why the 3 of us, of all the people we meet in the gym, should end up hanging out and enjoying each other's company so much.

Through my blog, I got know a few very nice ladies and fellow bloggers. I was a little surprised by how much I enjoyed their company each time we meet up. During our few meetings, we talked like old friends and I felt totally at ease and relaxed around them..

I also have a few very good friends whom I've mostly known since Secondary School days. Because of our individual schedules, we don't get to meet up so often.

But each time we meet, it is as if time has never separated us very much. Each time we meet, I feel as if the last time I spoke to them was the day before and I feel as "friendly" towards them as I did was I was 15. Which is really amazing because for some, I may not meet them any more frequently than once or twice a year.

Amazing and beautiful, isn't it? This thing called friendship?

I supposed the phrase "kindred spirits" (from Anne of Green Gables) is really more apt to describe friends.

Friends are "kindred spirits" who:
1. "Recognize" each other - which explains why of all the people we know, we can talk and laugh better with some rather than others
2. "Remember" each other - and I don't mean remembering all the details that happened to one other. But friends tend to "remember" our Being - what we are really like deep down inside
3. "Respect" each other - there is always something that we like, respect and admire about our friends. Whilst others might find a friend too outspoken and loud, to friends she is frank and boisterous.

And really, it's amazing how many "kindred spirits" there are in this world.

As Anne Shirley said, “Kindred Spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. Its splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”

 The Green Gables house in Prince Edward Island - 

Source: http://www.fritchman.com/novascotia.html