Friends

I've been working through the nature of friendship lately. I know that I'm a very loyal person who tends to hold on to friends for a very long time. That said, I have high expectations of them and do not keep around those I don't think are worth the time.

I have a lot of friends in my horse life. It's easy to be friends there--our common experience is so great that very little incentive is needed to call someone a friend. My circle is populated with people with an understanding of the difficulties we face, the creatures we care for, and that crazy passion that drives us. It's easy to be friends because our lives are so similar.

But what about the rest of them? Although I find it harder and harder to make friends with people in the "normal world", I still have some. I do treasure them. I've come to realize that the hallmark of friendship, whether horsey or not, is caring for one another. Laughing together and crying together. Caring even when you don't always understand the nuances of what they're going through. Being willing to set aside yourself and listen and care about another soul flitting through the same moment in time.

An emphasis on the last. A friend shares their life with you and open yours to them. We care, even when we don't understand.

Abandon that, and the friendship is gone.