Friendships are hard

     Ok...I'm not a great friend 100% of the time. I realize this and accept it, and so should you. I'm busy, tired, and cranky and generally don't have the time to put into a friendship what it needs. Lately, however, I have started realizing how important my friends are to me. So I started thinking about what steps I should take to be a better friend to those I have been blessed with, and this is what I've come to accept regarding maintaining friendships:

1. Get a calendar. My lifelong friend has one, and although I'd like to slap her with it while planning nights out; it works.
2. Forgive. Nobody is perfect, we all suck to some degree. If you don't forgive, you won't have a friendship.
3. Be available. This is so hard for me, but it's a requirement. When an emergency hits, and your friend needs you; BE THERE.
4. Laugh. If you can't laugh with your friend, there's really no point in having one.
5. Be you. If your friend can't accept who and what you REALLY are, you don't have a friend, you have someone in your life that just takes up space.
6. Don't be self-absorbed. Nobody wants to hear about you all the time (as amazing as we all think we are, this is actually annoying. Listen to someone else for a change, you might learn something.)
 7. You don't have to spend every waking minute together. Most of us have kids, jobs, husbands, etc. We don't have the time to hang out all day. Sometimes you may only see your dearest friend once every two months. The great thing about having a close friend is that no matter how long it's been, it feels as though you were together yesterday.

Friendships are more important than they are given credit. For women, they provide a sisterhood, a support system, a laugh factory. We need them to get through our stress, our heartache, our daily boredom. So if you're wondering why your friendships aren't as wonderful as you hoped they'd be, ask yourself what you are putting into them and what they are made of. Then adjust.