To me, a friend is someone you can trust, to whom you can tell anything, who do not stay with you in good times only but also in bad times, and who are always there for you when you need them. A friend should be like your brother or sister; someone before whom you can cry and who gives you good advices whether it is in terms of attitude, choices, or decisions. Friends can be divided into two groups which are fake friends and real friends.
It is quite a challenge to maintain friendships in the long term. I had many friends in school but they were mostly fake friends and not real ones. In school, they were my friends because they usually needed something from me. I was quite honest with them and would tell them what I thought of their attitudes and decisions. My honesty angered many of them which also affected my friendship with them. As a result, I have had quite a large number of fake friends. When I trusted them or needed them, I usually found there were not there for me. In addition to being not there, they would not even hesitate to make excuses instead of admitting their mistakes. Thus, many friends these days are not real and have always excuses ready as to why they cannot help you.
Friends these days are often waste of time. They are with you because they need you in some ways. They usually want to have fun and adventures with you and if you don’t give them what they expect from you, they simply disappear and forget any friendship they had with you. I have had so many disappointments I do not know where to start. Eight years ago, my girlfriend whom I really trusted disappointed me in a huge way. We had known each other since the first grade and we had done almost every activity together such as doing homework, playing together, eating food at each other’s house, and hanging out on the weekends. But as she grew, she began to change and chose another girl as a friend because she was better than me economically and socially. Just for her own interests, she left her friendship with me as if friendship is so easy to leave. I was disappointed but what hurt me even more was the fact that she used to talk behind my back. I had always been there for her whenever she needed me but she was never there for me when I needed her. I was with her on almost every important occasion such as when her mother died. I was quite shocked she had so conveniently disregarded all our beautiful memories. After leaving the friendship, she never talked to me in the class again even though we were class fellows for another four years. It is clear she didn’t really understand the value of friendship because she broke up with her other friend even before we completed high school. In a way, I am thankful my friendship with her ended early or there would have been more disappointments for me.
History doesn’t always repeat itself in the same way. After high school, I went to the university to pursue a major in nursing and met many new people. One of them was Bora who became my close friend. Bora was very funny and interesting person. She remains my best friend and I miss her dearly. One time I was quite stressed out for a whole month because I had problems with my civil marriage due to name that was written wrong. During this time, Bora was always there for me, giving me advices and hopes and assuring me everything will be fine, thus, I should remain calm. I really treasured her company and would never forget how she was always there for me. Bora was right that good things do come after bad things.
But my real friend, my soul mate, and my true love is my husband. He has made great sacrifices for my sake. He visited Albania even though it is quite a long trip from the U.S., just because he wanted to see and stay with me. I am very lucky I have found my real friend. He has been with me in both good and bad times whether during my illness, my academic career as a university student, my school projects, and my immigration issues so that I can move to the U.S. to be with him. These are few of the things I am grateful to him because if I start writing about every happiness he has given me, I will run out of space.
Like every relationship, friendship also comes in different forms. From my life experiences I have learnt there are two main types of friends which are fake and real friends. Fake friends are with you because they need something from you or enjoy your company. But they are nowhere to be found when you need them. I have had a fair share of fake friends in high school including one friend with whom I shared lot of memories over the years. Real friends are not only with you in good times but also bad times. My first real friend was Bora whom I met in nursing school but my best friend has turned out to be my husband who has always been there for me and with whom I look forward to creating many more memories.
