I can vividly remember my first lesson on true friendship. I was about 8 years old staring out of the window in my grandmother’s kitchen as I bragged about how many best friends I had. I named at least 10 girls — nearly half of my fourth-grade class. My granny chuckled and told me she’d like to have this conversation again when I get to high school because I’d be lucky if I still had one best friend by then.
Though her words felt harsh at the time, truer words have never been spoken. “Friend” is a term that we use rather loosely until circumstances cause us to more deeply examine the meaning of the word. Unfortunately, this is when we often realize that the majority of our relationships don’t measure up. Here are ten life events that will help you to distinguish between your real friends and the fake ones.
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The death of a loved one
The death of a loved one has a funny way of putting things into perspective for you. Some of the friends you’d swear would be there hardly even check on you and some of the ones you’d least suspect ride for you and check up on you so often, it brings tears to your eyes.
