IAM Thinking about friendship and relationships

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while and leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same."

Author: unknown

I have been thinking about interpersonal relationships lately. I have had the pleasure of having some amazing people in my life--both in the form of long term friendships and just some of the people that have come in and out of my life throughout the past 27 years. I can honestly look back on all different phases of life and find people from different walks who have had various levels of impact on me. When I was in Girl Scouts as a child, I learned a very important song with the lyrics, "make new friends, but keep the old; one is silver and the other's gold". I have held onto this belief for a long time. I have some of the same best friends since I was in that very girl Scout Troop. Then I have a collection of amazing people in my life from my high school, college years, and my first few professional jobs respectively. My commencement speaker, Mike O'Malley, said it best when he said, "Try as often as you can to give tribute to your friends, to stay in contact, to be at their momentous occasions. Drive across the country and go into debt to go to their weddings, fly across the country and be with them when their parents pass away.You cannot make any new old friends."

I am thinking about how important it is to nurture positive relationships and to pay tribute to those in our lives who have played this significant role. If you have laughed with them, cried with them, made a fool out of yourself in front of them, they are true friends. If they have supported you, praised you, spoke frankly with you, they are true friends. You don't need to see your friends every day to know that they are there. People are busy; life happens, but there is no reason to hold grudges and be petty. Pick up the phone--call an old friend. Friendship is a two-way street.

I am also thinking about Mythos, a Greek beer's slogan "Strangers are just friends waiting to happen". Put yourself out there to a complete stranger. Don't be closed off--you never know. I have had some of my most profound conversations and subtle friendships on airplanes, in bus stations, at job fairs. People do come and go in our lives and just because you aren't going to have a long-lasting friendship with a person who you just meet doesn't mean you shouldn't try to be friendly. Everyone has a story--you can learn so much from just listening. You also never know---strangers become friends faster than you think.

I am thinking that we should welcome friendship and companionship in every form, and that every relationship teaches us something about ourselves. So next time you can, strike up a conversation with a complete stranger, call an old friend, reconnect with an acquaintance. You never know where it will lead. This is what I'm thinking...what about you?