"True friendship consists not in the multitude of friends, but in their worth and value." - Ben Jonson

To my dearest friends...

According the Merriam Webster dictionary, Friendship is defined as "one attached to another by affection or esteem" and perhaps it's as simple that. However, what constitutes our friendships? Is it the length of time that we have known each other? Is it the hardships that we overcame together? Is it the laughter that we shared? Is it the mindless conversations? Is it the comfort?

I think that friendship should never me measured, but if it must, the result should be qualitative and not quantitative. We become friends for different reasons. Perhaps, it's because we weren't part of the "cool" crowd, or because someone turned around in Russian class and simply said "Hi, My name is Lily," or because we missed a mutual friend that we became friends, or because you called me when I really didn't wan't to have any human contact, or because we just "clicked." Whatever the reasons for us becoming friends, what kept us friends?

Common interests - not always. Non-stop gabfests - sometimes. Constantly being there for each other - impossible. Yet, there is something that drew us in and kept us there. Each friendship different, yet soothing.

"A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out." - Walter Winchell
Irchik, thanks for always being there for me even when I didn't even know I wanted you there.

"A friend is someone who is there for you when he'd rather be anywhere else." - Len Wein

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same." - Anonymous

"One who looks for a friend without faults will have none." - Hasidic Saying

"Friendship doubles our joy and divides our grief.- Swedish proverb

"You can make more friends in two months by becoming really interested in other people, than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you." - Bernard Meltzer

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." -Martin Luther King, Jr.

"A true friend is one who overlooks your failures and tolerates your success!" - Doug Larson

“A real friend is someone who you can sit in complete silence with and still walk away feeling like you just had the best conversation of your life.” - Unknown

“True friendship is when two friends can walk in opposite directions, yet remain side by side.”
Julie, we've went and we came back and may we always keep coming back side by side.

"A good friend can tell you what is the matter with you in a minute. He may not seem such a good friend after telling." - Arthur Brisbane

“Go through your phone book, call people and ask them to drive you to the airport. The ones who will drive you are your true friends. The rest aren't bad people; they're just acquintances.” – Jay Leno

“In prosperity our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends.” – John Churton Collins

"A friend is one who knows all about you and likes you anyway." -Christi Mary Warner
Irka, it's been a real long time and we are as close as we were in 5th grade.

"God made relatives; Thank God we can choose our friends." - Unknown

"'Stay' is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary." - Louisa May Alcott
Jen, I'm glad that despite everything, we both stayed.

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You, too? Thought I was the only one." - C.S. Lewis
Jackie, we are alike in more ways than I think either one of us realizes, yet.
Lenny, I really thought I was the only one...

"A true friend is the most precious of all possessions and the one we take the least thought about acquiring." - La Rochefoucauld

It's the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter. - Marlen Dietrich
Even if it's my mom that does the calling. =)

"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
My girlies, this applies to you!

"Love is blind, but friendship closes its eyes." - Unknown

"Friends are those rare people who ask how you areand then wait to hear the answer." - Unknown

"When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving much advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a gentle and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares." -Henri Nowen