On Friendship

By Christopher Golden

Without my friends, I am nothing. That might read as a tad dramatic, but it’s true.

How I know myself in the world lives in the heart of my deepest friendships. I know the meaning of love because of my friends. The kindness, the honesty and the way my friends hold me helps me understand and know that I am good enough. And I don’t mean good enough as in “tolerable” or “acceptable. I mean it in a more mundane, safe way. With my friends I know that I am understood and seen for who I am. There’s a feeling of safety knowing that no matter how I show up, whether it be in love, grief, deep sadness (and tears), joy, or in a distracted state of mind, I will be met with love. However I am on any given day, my friends remind me that it’s totally fine to just be me.