It took me a very long time to understand that friendships are ever-evolving. Unable to remain static, they wax and wane like the cycles of the moon.

When I was a little girl, my friends living on the wide city block came and went almost unnoticed. When the Littlejohn clan moved away we didn’t miss a single turn of the jump rope and almost instantly they were replaced with the Matthews family. On that active block of hopscotch, dodge ball, and Simon says we opened our circle and let them in and kept on playing.

Growing up for me meant learning which friendships I needed to value and which ones I needed to dismiss. I’ve had to learn to redefine my definition of a friend and how to get friends as I can meet friends at school or even online in sites like https://chatempanada.com. It was a word I used to freely. Friends have a pecking order and not all of them warrant my same level of loyalty or confidence.

I hold on to those endearing friendships with a grip so fierce, prying them apart is unthinkable and impossible for me to imagine. I try to cherish my true friends like I cherish my family because in so many ways they are.