Hi. I am new to the group, but wanted to post some thoughts about friendship. I have been learning over the past year what it means to have true friends. They are really the ones that stand beside you through devastating as well as fantastic life events. It is nice to share a laugh with a true friend, because it reaches your heart. The same with tears--when a true friend cries over your pain, it touches your heart like nothing else can because you really know you're alone.
I question, however, if this is a friend: when someone suddenly starts a chat with you, someone who knows you have had difficulties, someone you trusted, cuts you off fairly quickly after you answer questions truthfully. This kind of a person is high on the experiences of life, but when things get difficult, cannot really understand pain or sympathize. Such a person contacted me today and I could tell it was a surface discussion. The last time I talked to him (via chat) was well over a year ago. That person knew I had had a breakdown and was hospitalized, but offered very little caring. That person only wanted to talk about "positive things". Unfortunately, life is not always positive. True friends understand that.
Anyway, I hope that something I have said might be helpful. Thank you for letting me share a part of my heart today.
Blessings,
Kelly