on friendship

Dylan, Tyler and I went to Starbucks this evening, and while there we reminisced on the "good old days." We talked about how I had a four-year, head-over-heels crush on a girl Tyler ended up dating for three years. We talked about all the youth trips we went on with our church, all the great experiences and the not-so-great experiences (i.e. Tyler being attacked by a boy in the youth group and Dylan then lashing the boy with the dangerous end of his belt). We talked about how Dylan never really got along with my other friends--Chris, Dewenter, and Hague--and how, while he couldn't stand Pat back in the day, now they really get along. We talked about how everyone changes and everything changes likewise. We ended up being friends with the people we didn't expect to be friends with, and the friendships we thought we'd have forever ended up being dead-end friendships as people went their different ways. We talked about the emptiness of high school, how, though we viewed it as such a critical time in our lives, it ended up not being so. We hardly talk to anyone from high school, except for ourselves. Thinking about the past forces you to think about the future. You'll become better friends with people you don't know, and sometimes your best friendships will dissolve to nothing. That's how it goes, though. Some people say the best friendships last forever. That's not true. Sometimes the best things in life are only temporary; since when do we measure the value of something by its quantity (i.e. length of time) over its quality (i.e. how good it actually is)? Sure, some friendships do last for the rest of your life. But the friendships will change in their nature, evolving as the people in them evolve as well.