Recently I took some time to think about some important friendships in my life. As I have written before, my girlfriends are my soul mates. For me, boyfriends have come and gone and relationships have begun and ended but the constant in every situation are my girlfriends. They have picked me up when the thought of moving on seemed too much, they have celebrated my times of triumph, been the understanding ear to lend, and offered me more advice that I could possibly recall now. We have spent countless hours watching Sex and the City, hitting the local restaurants and bars, and obsessing over the latest boy that broke or stole our hearts. There is a connection between girlfriends like us, whether it is tangible or abstract it is a connection all the same.
As I was on this friendship thought, I thought of other friendships that I have but instead of girlfriends they are guy friends. I have heard it said time and time again that guys and girls can not “just be friends.” Though there is definitely some truth to this in certain situations, there are a few relationships in my life with guys that are strictly friendship. For me, these are meaningful, important friendships between people who have the best time together. These friendships gives me the opportunity to experience things that my girlfriends and I may not share. An afternoon of football games, going out to the farm to ride four wheelers, and having a guy’s perspective. It is refreshing to know that these guys are not judging me based on my looks or my track record with relationships, instead they are friends with me just because I’m me. They are friends with me because we can talk about anything, joke, and just be ourselves.
It may be that I grew up with only brothers and was a bit of a tomboy in my younger years, but I value these male friendships in order to balance the girly side with the not so girly side. For us, the friendship between a girl and a guy has never been a problem, and these friendships have grown into some of the most important friendships in my life. Obviously there can be an issue in these
friendships when boundaries are not established. However once boundaries, whatever they may be, are set in stone the friendship can move on without the fear of crossing some imaginary line.
Whether male or female both have seen me at my best and at my worst and love me just the same. These friendships are what keep me going daily.
Love, American Beautiful 