We met in the third grade – Mrs. Shreiner’s class. I already had braces and she was petite and just plain cute. We lived on opposite sides of the neighborhood – me on Camelot Ct. and her on Bluestone Dr. – not super close together, but close enough to walk. Although we didn’t like to walk the whole way alone. Instead we would decide on whose house we were going to play, meet in the middle, and then walk together the rest of the way. The summer was the best because our ice cream sandwiches accompanied us as we walked. I would carry two, one for me and one for her, and we would eat them together (usually sneaking another one when we got back to my house).
With each of those walks back and forth from house to house we grew up – Christina and me – and roots of a friendship ever so deep planted hard in our hearts. Today, 27 years later, we still talk at least once a week – sometimes more – and I still consider her the one person on this earth who knows me better than anyone.
It’s the kind of knowing where she can look at me and just by the slightest shift in my facial expression she can tell something else has shifted. Glancing across the room at each other all we have to do is look into each others’ eyes, and we know exactly what the other one wants to say but can’t at that moment. And even on the phone no effort to disguise a tone can fool the other person.
Christina is easy to love – truly love.
But what creates true love in a friendship?
1. The Absence of Jealousy
We have lived a long life together. She had more boyfriends than me. She was well-liked and very pretty. I got married first. She has two babies. But despite all of the joys and trials that we experienced together I can honestly say that bouts of jealousy were extremely short-lived if there at all. Our friendship was free from competition. We wanted what was best for each other, and we accepted each others’ blessings and our own defeats.
2. Patient Acceptance
Christina and I are very different. We have different personalities and gifts and even interests sometimes. But she has always accepted me – including my quirks and my silliness – and loves me anyway. When I want to analyze something just one more time after hours of already discussing it, she just listens. When I say something insensitive, she either ignores it knowing that it wasn’t intended or she addresses it with me.
3. Honest Authenticity
Realness. I can be real with her – myself – unedited. This is freeing. It is so nice to know that there is someone – a friend – who you can be yourself with and that you trust to be herself with you. And I can trust her to say the hard things if I need to hear them. The things that other people are probably thinking but too afraid to tell me.
4. Genuine Care
Christina and I genuinely care about each other, each others’ lives, and each others’ families. We invest in all of the facets of our lives. I want what is best for her, and she wants what is best for me.
Tell me, how is true love shown in your friendships?
This is the third day in the series “Falling in Love“. Read the previous posts by clicking below, and don’t forget to enter the giveaway that ends on Friday, February 9th! Oh, and another giveaway starts the next day! As a way to bless you, my readers, on the Fall in Love journey!
Fall in Love with Your Life {and Plan a Party} :: Day 1
In this post I tell you how I threw a Valentine’s Day party for myself and all of my single girlfriends, and I show you how you can plan your own! (Plus there’s a link-up!)
Fall in Love with Your Family {and enter an AWESOME GIVEAWAY} :: Day 2
Learn how we can love our families better, and enter to win your choice of scripture art from Hidden in My Heart!
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