Friendship is important. Almost anyone would agree. I believe that friendships between women are integral for survival. We are so beautifully different from men (mentally, emotionally, physically) even guy’s girls need their girlfriends every once in a while.

There are many different types of friends. Acquaintances, Friends you see out, work friends, school friends, family friends, old friends, new friends…you get the idea. I say this all as a preface to my main point. A girl needs bosom buddies. A girl needs soul sisters.

I happen to have seven besties that I have come up with through elementary, junior and high school. We’ve remained close even though we all separated after high school. The eight of us fall back into our old shtick as soon as we’re in the same zip code. We don’t talk on the phone everyday, some of us keep in touch more than others, we do have a facebook thread that we keep up with pretty regularly these days (doesn’t facebook make it almost too easy to stay in touch?) but none of that is what sustains us. What I know is, if any one of those seven girls called me and said they needed me, (it has happened) you can bet your bottom dollar I would be there.

There were more of us during the carefree days of high school, while we were still children getting to know each other and fumbling around with ideas of the future. Some have dwindled but the core of us have remained unchanged for nearly six years now. I miss my friends all the time when we are not together, mostly because the bond we have makes me feel relief, comfort and actual euphoria while we are in each others company. Alas, we are growing up and becoming adults, as much as we might try to prolong young adulthood, it is fleeting. Two of our eight are now married women.

This past weekend we all attended and were attendants at the wedding of Fitz. Fitz and I have been friends the longest, since we were eight years old to be exact. While the couple of us have never been what I would call the best of friends, I feel the same way about her that I do the others. It’s the group of us that’s so special. We really couldn’t be more different save being from the same town. I’ve been thinking about these friends the past few days as they’ve all left and gone back to their niches. What’s so fabulous about the fact that we’ve remained friends for so long is that we’ve all seen each other grow up. We were there for one another during all of the firsts of adolescence, the self-absorbed days of college and the frightening unknown of being an “adult” for the first time.

What I’ve realized while reflecting on my bosom buddies, my soul sisters, is that they are as much a part of me as anything intangible can be, I am more myself when I am with them. We bring out the best in each other. I’m not daring to say we have a perfect friendship, we have catty interludes, hurt feelings, missed phone calls and everything that goes along with a relationship. What’s different is actual unconditional love, which is rarely found, thank God I have.

Girls at play