of a nurse, a lawyer, & magic.

This is an ode to friendship.

My friendships and yours, too.

As you could probably tell, I have been having a rough time of it lately. Homesickness, fatigue, a minor sinus infection, and a bout of seasonal depression haven't made it easy on me. And if we're being honest, I've been throwing myself a pity party every time I sit down to write. Cue the black balloons and a Lemony Snicket book. (Side note: if you still haven't seen the new Series of Unfortunate Events on Netflix, I suggest you open up a new tab and watch it immediately.)

There are two people I talk to when cacá hits the fan- my two best friends.

Today, especially, I am grateful for strong, female, friendships in my life and I pity all those who don't have them. To have two friends so different from each other is to have the entire world at your fingertips.

One is a future nurse. She holds me together when I'm falling apart, hugs me even when I don't want to be hugged, laughs at all of my stupid jokes, and has the biggest heart in the world. No one has ever made me feel so validated. She is my conscience. She stands behind me to prop me up and believes in every project I take upon myself. She is the first to hear about creative ideas, stupid fantasies, and cheers me on when I get too carried away.

The future lawyer is smart, calculating, and caring beyond belief. She is my voice of reason and logic. She pushes me to be better and go farther than I could push myself. She knows me like the back of her hand and doesn't give a single fig if I'm not happy with what she says. She speaks the truths that I need to hear, not the cotton candy fluff I want to hear. She holds me to a higher standard.

The combination of these two makes me unstoppable. I would be nothing without them.

Which got me thinking about friendships, relationships, and stability in general.

At different times in my life, I have been at odds with both of my best friends. I would not have met one if I hadn't been in a fight with the other, actually.

And both "fights" were stand-stills, Cold Wars that were never arguments or loud explosions. They were simply pauses in friendship.

We un-paused just as easily and quickly.

But because we went through tough times, because we earned our friendships back, I trust the two with my life. They carry the weight of my world on their shoulders, they help me share the burden. And I would do the same for them in a heartbeat. This is stability. These are healthy relationships that enable us to keep pushing when we feel like giving up.

How odd it is that these two diamonds, who glitter so brightly in my life, are passed by every day by others who have no interest in them. How bizarre to think that I interact with people who have their own sets of best friends who might seem dull and uninteresting to me. Our lives are built around constructs that ruin us: time, school, career, etc.

But friendship...friendship comes organically, to most of us.

We do not have to be taught to make friends. We are maybe taught to share, how to communicate properly, how to interact in general. But building friendships is natural, even as children. It isn't until we grow up that we start putting pressures on ourselves to find the right fit.

And when we do, it's magic in real life. There is nothing better than being yourself, completely yourself, around someone. If that isn't enchantment, it must be something close.

All of the friends that I have, now, are real friends.

Real friends forgive you when you vomit on their shoes even though it's their 21st birthday and not yours. They laugh at you (not with you) when you tell them that the guy you've been dating has just come out. They never let you live down those sunglasses that you thought were super cool but actually make you look like Ozzy Osbourne (apparently, even though that theory is still in the air and I refuse to believe it and I will continue wearing those glasses until they break dammit.)

Real friends drive through the night to land on your doorstep when you called them crying for whatever reason. They get mad at you when you tell them that you're moving to Israel for a year without them but still offer to drive you to the airport. They root for you, support you, and push hard to get you moving.

We all have these experiences, though with different people and different places and at different ages. We might have fond memories that aren't similar, but the emotions are the same.

Call your friends, tell them they are golden, never take them for granted.

Mine are half a world away and still manage to save me.

They are magic in the making.

Alchemy personified.