Mi Buena Fortuna

Recently, I opened a fortune cookie and alas – I actually got a decent fortune! My fortune stated – “the secret of good friends is no secret to you.” I could not have found a fortune more accurate. While I cannot claim to be a relationship guru (my track record proves otherwise!), I do know a thing or two about friendship. Real friendship. Not those people you loosely call friends, but who somehow seem to let you down or drop the ball or who are far too self-consumed. I mean the friends that will go to the end of the Earth if they have to. Friendship that stands the test of time and space and life. I consider myself beyond fortunate in the friend department and for that I am truly grateful. So this is dedicated to you – my true friends and all you have done for me. I am sure, in this, you will see a little bit of you and a little bit of me. I love you with all my heart. Thanks for your love, support, laughter, and memories through good and bad, the big and the small. You mean more than you know.

Friendship at fifteen is forging a note for a friend so that her parents never find out she got detention.

Friendship at sixteen is about sending fake dating service mail to the boy that played a trick on her.

Friendship at seventeen is realizing that the friends you always wanted are the friends you already have.

Friendship at eighteen is about being strong enough to say goodbye to each other for the first time.

Friendship at eighteen is about long distance phone calls to your old friends because the new ones just don’t quite understand.

Friendship at nineteen is about road trips and shared secrets along the way.

Friendship at nineteen is solving your boy crises together.

Friendship at twenty is reminding her that it is okay to be a good girl.

Friendship at twenty is taking her cell phone away so she won’t make any phone calls she will regret.

Friendship at twenty is being the bad guy and making her leave the party because you know it’s in her best interest, even if she doesn’t.

Friendship at twenty is about taking your first vacation together - and not killing each other(or anybody else for that matter)!

Friendship at twenty-one is hiking your formal dress up around your waist, squeezing three into a bathroom designed for one, and being there to hold her hair back.

Friendship at twenty-one is leaving your boyfriend at 2 in the morning to pick up your friend from a party because she “really needs” you.

Friendship at twenty-one is letting your friend share your bed because you know she needs the company.

Friendship at twenty-one is being supportive of your friend’s decisions even as you are falling apart because everything is changing.

Friendship at twenty-one is not sugar coating the truth and giving her the advice she needs to hear so that she can be strong enough to get out of bed the next morning.

Friendship at twenty-two is just being there for your friend, rather than dismissing her feelings and moods and emotions as she struggles to conquer her demons alone – the only way she knows how.

Friendship at twenty two is about reassuring her that it will all be okay and letting her cry about everything and anything because she needs to.

Friendship at twenty-two is about letting that other girl know to keep her hands off your friends guy when she can’t do it for herself.

Friendship at twenty-two is letting her know that it is his loss for not being that into her, especially when she can’t believe it on her own (don’t worry – she eventually will).

Friendship at twenty-three is listening to her dating plights and giving the best advice you can, even when you can’t relate.

Friendship at twenty-three is realizing what you wanted out of friendship is what has already grown to be.

Friendship at twenty-three is being her valentine until she can learn to be her own.

Friendship at twenty four is staying out that extra hour, even when you are exhausted, so that she doesn’t have to leave the guy that is making her smile.

Friendship at twenty-four is reverting to fourteen year old behavior to be clear to her ex that he has a lot of making up to do.

Friendship at twenty-four is about traveling a little bit farther than down the road to be at her birthday party.

Friendship at twenty-five is picking up right where you left off despite being out of touch or on different pages for a while.

Friendship at twenty-five is realizing that even though you have known each other for so long and know so much about each other, there is still a lifetime of things to learn.

Friendship at twenty-five is taking comfort in knowing that even though your lives and situations have changed, true friends are friends forever.

And guest?!

I love my friends for giving me far too much credit for the hopping love life I don’t have. Because they know the person I am – the person I have been for years – they naturally expect that I would be flocked with gentleman callers. Much to their (and sometimes my own) surprise, they aren’t exactly beating down the doors. But that's another story.

This is why it is always a slight shock when I receive those thick, cream colored envelopes with my name in elegant lettering with the “and guest” attached. What guest do they think I have? I’m not complaining though. Rather that than have them think I am not capable of finding a guest!

Fortunately for me, I am quite independent and I don’t need a guest. My guest will come along in due time. For now, I’d rather not bring just anyone along and have to spend my evening entertaining that person. Been there. Done that. I’d much rather devote my time and energy to be the social butterfly that I am and float from friend to friend.

So to those of you in this same situation who wonder, “who am I going to bring to this thing?” Just think, when you aren’t attached to an “and guest” you are free to be that cute, single girl and enjoy all the possibilities that come with the territory…