Deb Dana Has Many Best Friends

I went to elementary school in the era of the friendship bracelet and best friend heart necklace. You know the one I’m talking about: the heart-shaped charm imprinted with the words “Best Friend,” split down the middle so that one friend would get one half and one friend would get the other. Example:

Best Friends

That was the necklace you’d give to your #1 Best Friend. Because there were #2 Best Friends and #3 Best Friends, and they had their place, but the tacky gold necklace? That was for your #1 Best Friend.

Fast forward to adulthood, and I don’t have #1 and #2 and #3 Best Friends. I have lots of best friends who fulfill different roles in my life. There are the friends I’d call if I needed a night on the town, someone to cheer me up and take me out for a drink or six. There are the friends I’d call if I needed a quiet night in to watch a movie, eat a mess of cookies, and talk about life and love and everything in between. There are the friends I’d send an early draft of a book, friends I’d text about a funny thing that happened, friends I’d email about a great book I read. And there are friends like the five Debs I’ve met through this site, who have accompanied me on this wild year-long journey and have supported me in ways that bring a tear to my eye. Lots and lots of different types of friends.

There is, of course, overlap in some of those categories, but I do think part of getting older is accepting friends for who they are and embracing the role they play in your life. There isn’t a hierarchy of first, second, and third best friends. There are merely different types of friends, and I couldn’t imagine my life without any one of them.

5 Replies to “Deb Dana Has Many Best Friends”

  1. I remember those! Mine was a bracelet.

    Yeah, I don’t really rank my friends anymore. Well, except for TG, my absolute best friend. With benefits. 😉

  2. I have many kinds of friends too, and I love each of them for the role they play in my life. One of the lovely things about growing up is truly the ability to recognize that people have value for their differences and for the lovely, unique things they can bring to our lives.

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