Friends & Life Long Friendships

Friendships are the most important relationships. These snapshots of buddies and pals will likely remind you of your lifelong friends.

I get by with a little help from my friends. - The Beatles, 1967

Aristotle described a true friend as a “single soul dwelling in two bodies.” Time and/or distance don't matter in a real friendship. You can see each other once a decade and pick up right where you left off. Sure, common history may bind you but that history doesn't have to be consistent. What makes a true friend is a lot of other attributes: an interest in the same things, common values, supporting and encouraging each other, being committed to each others' happiness, and the same principles. A friend makes you be your best self. You laugh together, cry together, and have fun together.

A good friend will be there when you need help, will grieve with you at the loss of a loved one, accepts you for who you are, is loyal to you and your friendship, is always honest with you, and is someone you can always count on - in good times and bad. This poem shows how we feel when we are with friends:

The pleasures of friendship are exquisite,
How pleasant to go to a friend on a visit!
I go to my friend, we walk on the grass,
And the hours and moments like minutes pass.
- Stevie Smith

We make friends at school, at work, at play, at church, in the armed services and just about anywhere we go. Sometimes, our best friends are also family members. Celebrate friendship through these images of friends throughout time.