What Is YOUR Definition of Friendship?

A friend is someone who "gets" you and you can tell them anything without being judged. They show up when you need help or support. So true friends are few. What most people call friends, I call friendly acquaintances.

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My two best friends and I all live in different cities. One lives in Chicago, another in a Detroit suburb, and I'm (currently) in El Paso (but that will change with our next duty station). We do NOT talk frequently. In fact, I'm lucky if I can talk to each of them once every three months. We're all busy and we're all on different time zones. That said, when we DO get to talk, we could talk for hours about nothing in particular and (aside from catching each other up on personal life developments) it's like not a single day has passed since we talked last. We can pick up right where we left off and we have fun. Probably the MOST important part of my relationships with these two women is that NONE of us holds anything against each other for the fact that we don't talk often. We all know we each have some of the fault. So, we just keep on truckin' and chat it up for hours when we get the chance! :) I think it's time for another phone date with them.... hmm........

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Sometimes, when we are quite lucky, one of these dear friends grows into best friend. A rare title, a best friend is our alter-ego, born of shared history, shared values, and ten thousand laughs. Our best friend becomes part of our chosen family — the first person we call to share a joy, the one we call at 2:00 a.m. in times of emergency. Having our own way of talking, inside jokes no one could ever understand. The one person who "gets" me.

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My dad always said you can count your close friends on one hand- but have many acquaintances...while for some this may not be true- for me it totally rings true.

Someone I trust with everything- my embarrassing moments, my fears and failures too. Someone who laughs and cries with me- who I can go months without seeing and when we hang out, it's as though we were never apart. She is trustworthy and honest- and kicks me in the butt when I need it...and I can truly be who I am around her!

This describes my best friend Stacey- best of friends since second
grade;)

When making new friends- laid back, great sense of humor, talks and listens, trustworthy...chances are if she's ripping everyone apart in gossip- she will tear you apart behind your back first chance she gets...I like people who care too...encourage and uplift:)

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I agree. When I'm with my friend we enjoy each other's company. We care what happen to one another. We can laugh together, dream together, be quiet together, cry together. We don't necessarily have to be joined at the hip to consider ourselves friends.

When we are geographically apart (as I am from my two best friends - apart from one of them for decades), we may not be able to communicate often, but we still have a great fondness, and a great caring, for one another's life. And when we can talk (or, amazingly, get together), it's like we've never been apart! No "look at me," no jealousy, no competition, no claws, no pickiness. Just... loving friendship. Can't beat it. I think it was C. S. Lewis who wrote that friendship is the most unselfish of all the types of love.

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Someone I enjoy spending time with under any circumstances.

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Devine Designer ... were you in my head? Struggling to add anything to Devine's answer because that is basically mine as well.

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I have one best friend. I have a couple other people that I consider friends as well, but no one that I would call a best friend but this one lady.

She and I have known each other since Middle School, we are both in our early 30's now, so half our lives, literally.

She and I have fought and made up too many times to count.
We have both moved across the world form each other and still maintained contact. We have gone months with out talking and then pick up like we never spent a day apart.

She is more like a sister to me than a friend.

As far as general friendship... someone who I can call up and have a comfortable conversation with, someone I can vent to, someone I can trust, someone I can go out and have fun with, someone I have things in common with and similar interests to. Someone I can rely on.

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To be there when your needed. To listen and be listened to.Giggle. Dont ask to borrow items continually.Speak kindly. Do things together.

I honestly believe that friendships aren't always two-way. I consider any relationship that teaches me and helps me to grow a friendship, even when we cease to have contact, even when he/she means me no good.

Now, for quickie clarification, I might refer to someone as "no longer my friend". If I have time, though, to talk, then I have no "former friends" or even "enemies", unless I have nothing more to learn from those relationships or the lack(s?) thereof.

someone who listens as well as talks. the older i get the less time i have for people who only want to tell their stories but have no real interest in anyone else's.
someone whom i can not see for a long time, and we pick right back up naturally and easily.
someone i can be totally honest with, warts and all, and who doesn't shrink away in horror or bury me in platitudes, but will give me honest, thoughtful feedback.
these people are very rare. i've got a host of acquaintances and casual friends, but a mere handful of real friends. and that's the way i like it.
khairete
S.

my best and closest friends are my mom and my husband. they truly love ME, all of me, and have been there through thick and thin. i have had good friends come and go throughout my life...but no one seems to be there unconditionally and unfailingly, and "get" me, like they do.

i have had several close friends who bailed on me because i did things they didn't agree with, with my life (not anything that affected them- things like moving to another state, being with someone they didn't agree with, etc. once i had someone tell me - someone i considered a "best" friend - that i was cool to hang out with them but my husband was not.) so i have mostly found that while people are very into "being" accepted by me (i have always been one of those people that people like to be around and feel they can tell "anything" to because i don't judge and am supportive almost to a fault) they very rarely are willing to give that kind of acceptance back.

now that i think about it, i have two girls that i only see maybe once or twice a year. i have known them since gradeschool, and i can honestly say, they are two people who have never judged me, have always been there, we don't talk on a daily basis but when we get together it is literally like NO time has passed. that to me is true friendship. a different form than the people i lean on, on a daily basis, but 100% pure nonetheless.