Today I was speaking with a friend on the difference between friends from our childhood that we've grown up with vs. friends that you make later on in life. The reason this is such an interesting topic to me is because with the later of the two, you really have the choice of how much one really needs to know about you. I mean, do you really ever go through your life from beginning to end with a prospective friend, in hopes that they will still respect you the same after learning who you once were. "Once were" being the key.
There is a certain comfort when you are around those who have known you for a lifetime. They have accepted your good points and bad. Even through the awkward stages of adolescence, and minor to major mistakes that bring us into adulthood, there are those certain friends that look past it all and just love you for who you've become. These are the types of relationships that even when life takes you hundreds of miles and at times years apart...nothing changes. I have a handful of these relationships and all of them are completely different. However,I hold all of them dear to my heart and always will.Some have seen me through major changes in life style and personality, and are still helping me today. I am able to call or "social network" with those I haven't seen in years and it is like we never grew old.
Now, in saying all of that, I don't want to make light of the friendships that I've been fortunate enough to come across in the past few years. They are, however, completely different. Making friends as an adult in a new environment is totally different then the simplicity of childhood acceptance. Especially when you remove yourself from all known comforts, like moving to another state where you don't know many and certainly no-one knows you. At first it is awkward to say the least, sometime uncomfortable. Unless you are completely comfortable in your own skin and the outgoing type, unfortunately, that's not me. Luckily, those around me are outgoing and very accepting, so I fell into a very comforting neighborhood and found those around me to be just as seemingly happy to have a new friendly face.
I have made some very good friendships in a new place, but have I really shared all of me.This is where my theory gets turned backwards. I used to feel like I may not be being completely honest with myself or others because I only showed the surface of who I am. I think this came into play because up until this point in my life, I have always been around those who just know me. However, my ideas have changed. How I see it...My friends from my past love me for who I am. They love me for who I've become, not because of the struggles I had to go through to get here. I think that had I grown to be a complete "jerk" then I wouldn't have the amazing friends I've had. So obviously, they love me for who I am now. In that I am able to see that I have not cheated my new relationships out of some hidden side of me, just because they haven't been present for my more embarrassing moments in life. They haven't had to see me fall and struggle to get back up. Maybe they are just coming in at a lucky starting point in my life....who knows....
Anyway, I hope that twenty years from now I will still have all of the beautiful souls from my past and all of the amazing ones that I've recently been blessed with knowing as an active part of my life. I hope that I have made as big of an impression on those I've met as they have made in my heart. I want that when people think of me they can smile and it warms them from the inside out.Whether they remember us sitting at a park, hanging out around a fire, building in the sand, singing or playing music, dancing(inside or out), laughing,crying, standing in the rain, or a number of crazy moments. I hope you all remember me with love, because I love every moment I remember...new and old.