Friendship is essential

Dear Millennial,

Friendship is essential.

As we all know, life sometimes is a whirlwind filled with peaks and valleys, wins and losses. When you think about how you’ve overcome the various hardships life has thrown at you, who was present to help you work through your troubles, directly or indirectly? Think about it…depending on the circumstances, you may not have felt comfortable sharing the gory details of a sensitive situation with your family candidly.  In most instances, you can tell your friends (not all, but some) everything without fear of judgement. With that being said, this letter is dedicated to friendship.

Why? I’m glad you asked!

The last few months of my life have been all over the place, and has represented change. A LOT of change. This past month alone has been filled with…

-Travel (personal & professional)
-Relocation (remember, reunited with my husband and it feels so good!)
-Home renovations (contractors in/out, contractors lost/found)
-Moments of silence

As a result, I’ve been focused on me with a little bit of family sprinkled in…which hasn’t left much time for friends, happy hours, girls trips, group chats or text conversations. I decided I needed a nap on one of my recent trips, so I laid down for about an hour or so to refresh and reset. When I woke up, I realized I’d missed a call from one of my very best friends. My first thought was that something must’ve happened, or something was wrong; why else would she be calling? Nevermind that we’re best friends, right?! I braced myself and called her back, hoping that I could be everything she needed me to be for her in that moment if something terrible had happened.

When I called her back, she answered the phone excited, her usual chipper self. I asked her how she was and if everything was ok…she replied that everything was fine & that she was calling because she missed me and wanted to hear my voice (Alexa, play Count On Me by Whitney Houston!).

Her and I have been living similar lives in different places for several months now, and it’s been hard to support each other from long distance. Consequently, we’ve found ourselves in a new phase of our friendship. I told her I missed her as well, and we began to catch up on the moments we’ve been missing in each other’s lives. We promised we’d get together in person soon, and started to end our call. Just before we concluded, I remember saying to her, ”You called! You did something so simple, yet I’d never thought to pick up the phone.”

It was a moment of enlightenment for me. I mean seriously, could I have been any more lazy? Truthfully, it wasn’t on purpose when I think about it. I guess the millennial in me never really thought to literally pick up the phone. Obviously, I’ve called friends before, but never really picked up the phone for a friendly check-in; that’s normally done via text. The way I felt when her and I ended the call could only be described as loved.

I’ve always known that friendship was important, but given the twists and turns of life lately, that check-in helped me realize just how necessary friendship truly is. Our friends want to protect us, love on us, uplift us, pour into us, shape us, mold us and all around just be there for us however they can be. We have to let them be all of that to us, and in return,  we have to be all of those things to our friends as well; that’s what makes a true friendship. As I grow older, I realize that friendship provides the essentials needed to navigate through the turmoil of life. As such, I consider myself blessed; I’ve had a ton a great moments with cherished friends (they know who they are). When it’s all said and done, we need our friends… sometimes more than we realize. Now go call a friend!

Friends…How many of us have them?! 🙂

-Millennial Jas