There are five kinds of friends that EVERYONE needs in their life.
1. The friend who won’t let you quit
When I was getting married, I knew that there was one bridesmaid I needed above all, the one who would make me walk down the aisle. Now, before you go all crazy on me, I knew I wanted to marry my husband. I knew that from our first conversation when I was fourteen. I also know me. And me can get really nervous at the end of things. And so, I invited one particular friend who had a mandate: make SURE I finish this thing! Who in your life can you call on when you want to quit? Who can you call when you are ready to give up on your marriage, your career, your kids, and they won’t coddle you or give you a way out. Instead, they will remind you that you are the one who wants to finish well. You need that friend.
2. The friend who is more outraged than you are
Recently, I had the good fortune of being mistaken for someone in their fifties. There is nothing wrong with being fifty. In fact, fifty is nifty, unless you are thirty-six, which I am. I was polite to the poor obviously blind man who kept trying to make sure over and over again that I wasn’t the person he knew in my town as a grown woman in the 1970’s! I was kind. I really was. And as soon as I walked away, I knew EXACTLY who to text. See, I have a friend who does me the great service of being more outraged than I am. And boy, did she deliver! By the time she was done, I felt so much better, and was thoroughly humored by the entire experience. I won’t remember that man, but I will remember our witty repartee. Now, don’t mistake this friend for one who is looking for drama. She’s just willing to spend five minutes on the mountain of outrage with me and then walk down to reality with a firm hand on my back that reminds me that it’s all going to be okay. You need that friend.
3. The friend who makes fun of you
All of us have a tendency to take ourselves too seriously from time to time. Every. Single. One of us. And we all need the friend who will remind us that we can laugh at our foibles and find humor in our short comings. Now, I’m not talking about a friend who is looking to put you down to make herself feel better. No, I’m talking about the kind of friend who makes fun of the parts of you that make you afraid or ashamed in such a way that they lose their power to keep you from moving forward. You need that friend.
4. The friend who just knows what you need
You know the friend who shows up at your house five minutes before you were done with life with Starbucks? You need one of those. They are rare, and when you find one, take care of them with all your heart. You need that friend.
5. The friend who is always up for an adventure
In life, there are times where you might need a friend to bury a body (okay just kidding) but you definitely need a friend who is just up for it, whatever it is. Need to throw together an event for two hundred people tonight without a budget or venue? She’s your girl. Need to drive across three states to find your long lost cousin? Pack the toothbrush. Need a night of fun and craziness (read: eat two pints of ice-cream and binge watch old Friends episodes) to recover from an amazingly disappointing day? Make the call, that’s all! You need that friend.
Yep. These are the kinds of friends we all want. The question is, which kind of friend are you?