Friends come and go, but they are often there when you need them the most. For Diana, it took years of to reconnect with her best friend, but it was as if time stood still and nothing changed. Those are the friends we often strive to find in life. When we do, we need to cherish those relationships and remember that those people have helped make up the identity that we have today.
By Diana Petrenos
Today was my best friend’s birthday and it especially made me think of friendships. It is amazing how many friends you come across in your lifetime and how many of those friends truly become your “best friend.”
I remember the day I met my best friend, I was new to the school and we were in first grade. I was playing with a toy or puzzle of some kind and she came up to me and talked and from then on we were instant friends. We were friends until high school but we began to lose touch as best friends. We were in different classes and just started having different friends. In my junior year of high school, I moved to New Jersey from New York and we had a falling out.
I remember she wrote me a note, saying I moved and we just couldn’t be friends anymore. I was sad but eventually I moved on and started my new high school and I met other friends, close friends but not that instant-best-friend type – until I started a job at a pre-school.
While I was attending college, I met my “best friend” Christine. We worked together and we became instant friends. We were together all the time and we talked and laughed. She introduced me to my future husband and she was my maid-of-honor at my wedding. We were friends for a long time, our kids were the same age too. However, she soon had three kids and I still had the one and I moved to Pennsylvania and she was still in New Jersey. But we still kept in touch until a little after she moved to Florida. By then I was divorced and living in Pennsylvania still.
The last I heard from her sister, was that she was now divorced as well and living in Pennsylvania, in the same town as me, but she never touched base with me again and I didn’t have her new number. It is sad to lose that best friend, that person that really knows you so well. I think we have childhood friends, we have friends who come along, in that time of need and we have best friends. Those are the friends that even though so much time has passed, when you meet them again it is like time has stood still and your friendship has never changed.
I was lucky to meet my best friend Lisa again on Facebook in 2009 and we have been friends ever since and it is like time stood still. Lisa remembered things that I didn’t remember. For example she said, did you ever have that rainbow wedding? Where your bridesmaids wore different color dresses? I was in shock, because I didn’t remember that I planned that out so long ago and the funny thing was, I did have that rainbow wedding.
When you think about the friends you have come across in your life, you cherish the best friends that have come into your life when you needed them the most, they might not have held the title as “best friends” but you hold these friends in your heart, because in some way they have shaped, who you are today.
I am so thankful for all the friendships I have had so far in my life and I think everyone should get the chance to have someone they could call their friend, no matter if it’s just for a little while or a life time. It makes you feel extra special to have someone be your Best Friend but I think the title should change to Forever Friend, because they will be there for you forever. I am so glad to have gotten the chance to spend time with my Forever Friend Lisa and I accept and appreciate all she is to me. I hope that from this story everyone takes time out to touch base with an old friend, as I’m sure they will be happy to hear from you. Or go out and make new friends and achieve a new friendship filled with new conversation and laughter.
See how Diana answers our Identity Five Questions:
1. What have you accepted within yourself and/or within your life? Is there anything you are working on accepting?
I have accepted that I am not perfect and that life isn’t always perfect or goes as planned. Life is short, so I enjoy each day, good or bad, and accept each day as a learning experience.
2. What do you appreciate about yourself or your life?
I appreciate getting the opportunity to inspire others, through my writing and that even though I had to go through a lot struggles in my life, to get to this point, I wouldn’t change the past, because if not for these struggles, I would never be the person I am today.
3. What have you achieved, or what are you working to achieve personally, physically, or mentally?
I am working to achieve finishing a 5-k race that I signed up for in November. It is my first race but I’m excited about this new opportunity and challenge. So bring it on!
4. What is your no-so-perfect way?
We are all unique with quirks and imperfections, so why not flaunt them and embrace them! My not so perfect way is that even though I might have had the worst day in the world, I always find that one positive thing that happened in that day and focus on it. It makes that worst day much better.
5. How would you complete this sentence, “I Love My…” This has to be about you, physically or mentally.
For the first time in my life I can say I love my self-confidence! It took me a long time to get to this point, where you feel good about yourself inside and out and you believe in yourself, so much that you know you can accomplish anything you set your mind too. It is a wonderful feeling and I hope everyone gets the chance to experience it.
