Value of Friendship

Have you ever really thought about how important friends really are? I don't just mean people you hang out with, work with, go to school with... I mean real friends. The kind who know they can call you if they need a shoulder to cry on, or help moving. The kind you can pour your heart out to... the ones who can make you laugh no matter how mad you are, or know what you are thinking just by looking at you.
Where would we be without these people? They aren't just friends, this is what family means to me. I don't really have a 'blood family,' I have my own family, of those I have brought into my life. My friends are the most important people in the world to me. Of course my husband and my daughter are part of that, we are close, and amazing friends. I have had friends who I thought were friends until I realized they weren't there when I needed them, or they didn't feel they could come to me when they needed someone. Or finding out they stabbed me in the back. Real friends- the ones you can go a year without talking to because life is so busy, but you pick up right where you left off. The ones who you can have a falling out with but still tell people she is your best friend because you know pretty soon it will all be worked out. The ones you can count on to know when something is bothering you.
Think of those people, now what would your life be without them? Mine would be pretty empty! I have learned the hard way that not everyone is real, and some just want you around until they don't need you anymore. Some come into our lives for a season, as they say. I know I went thru a point in my life where I was not the kind of person anyone would have wanted as a real friend, and then I looked back on that and thought- wow, I was a bitch! I still make mistakes in friendships, we all do, but the difference now is that I know whether that friendship is worth fixing that mistake or letting that person go.
Today I have an incredible circle of friends- none of those fake, part time friends, no users or haters. None of that drama or jealousy or other crap. I have dismissed all those negative people from my world... and I feel so blessed to have this amazing circle. 
I used to only keep a couple people close and the others at quite a distance, but I truly feel I have a large circle now of people I can trust, who also feel they can trust me. 
My life would be nothing without friends and friendships, you all complete me! I wouldn't be the person I am without you all! I am blessed and so grateful for each and every one of my friends! Thank you for being a part of my family.