I recently had someone that I knew as a child add me on Facebook and then remove me a few weeks later. It did not bother me but it did make me think about the word “Friend” and what exactly it means.
This person in question is roughly the same age as me and we were mutual friends through our mothers being close friends. We would catch up maybe two or three times a year, have sleepovers, play snooker and football. The last time I saw this person was in 1990 and when they added me on Facebook I obviously accepted.
After the initial conversations about what directions our lives had taken us and the memories we shared as children I came to the swift conclusion that we actually had little in common. After not speaking for a few months this person sent me an email saying how I had “changed” and that I was “not the person I once was”. How the hell would he know who I am? I have not spoken to him for twenty years!
For me friendship should never be measured by the amount of time that you have known someone but by how much that person means to you. Knowing someone for most of your life yet not seeing them in two decades does not make them more of a friend of someone that you have known for a shorter time.
People come in and out of our lives at all times. Some friendships you will take forward and some will fall by the wayside, which is just how life is. But for me what truly marks a friend are the people whose footprints will be embedded in your heart for an eternity.
To the “friend” who removed me. Your no friend, you’re just someone I was acquainted with as a child. To those who are my friend’s thank you for being who you are.
