BFF's

A long time ago, someone quoted Emerson for me. It is said that this great American poet once wrote that "The only way to be a friend is to be one." I am unsure how much of a truism this has been in my life. I never kept score. What I know is that when people who become friends come into my life, I make them feel loved and needed -- he is my friend and I am his (and my Bebe's too, to be sure about it). This is not to say that I have many friends. I've met some and lost some. I am treasuring a few. At this stage in my life, and I have said this more than once, I feel I have earned the right to surround myself with friends (indeed with people) I hold dear and in high esteem. To hell with so-called friends. They have only brought me heartache and wounded pride. My so-called friends can march to their own new drummer and they can flock together under new feathers. I am keeping still --I am counting my blessings of friends.

What tabloids and bloggers call BFFs -- best friends forever!

In grade school, my friends were the kids in our neighborhood. I had classmates but they were not friends. I had relatives but they were not friends. My neighbors were the friends I played with. After school. After dark. Tumbang preso. Agawan ng base. Luksong tinik. My friends were neighbors who celebrated birthdays by inviting us. These days, our neighborhood friends are distant memories.

In high school, my classmates were my friends. The irony of my high school classmate-friends is that they seemed to have ceased being my friends in college. But what a delightful surprise to rekindle those friendships at reunions after college. In fact, classmates who were mere acquaintances have also become friends.

In college, new-found friends were my dorm-mates and batch-mates. But no one seemed to stick around, except for a very few souls so precious I refuse to let go of them even if I hardly see or speak or email them.

Working right after graduation from college, afforded me even greater opportunities to have friends from the workplace in the Philippines and overseas. But as in college, very few remain precious to me.

People who could become your friends and who may indeed have already become your friends, come and go. But there are those who remain with you despite the distance and despite the years. They are blessings I thank the Lord for always. Together with family and loved ones, my friends have put me in a place that is good -- that stage in life I have plenty to smile about.