There are so many types of friendship, I think... We have friends from our school days whom we may or may not be in touch with anymore, but when you see them you say "hi", "how are you' and things like that. There are friends we made during our college time, when we have been considered as a grown-up, the things that we do together are slightly different, more parties than before and when we graduated, from times to times we get invitation to their marriage, to their child's first birthday and so on. Then there are those we met during our working life, which sometimes can be the best type of friend that you can make or the worst.
I have a friend that I have known for 15-16 years. Our friendship isn't crazy and full of exciting story. Our life has always been ordinary. But what I am grateful about is that I have someone that kind enough to tell me what's right and what's wrong. Remind me when I am not walking in the right path. Be there when I am limping. Never judge. Her life is good, blessed, happy, but I don't envy her. I am happy for her. That's a huge difference in it.
When we grow up, life doesn't get any easier. That's why in Buddhism, the right teaching says that never seek happiness in the future. Live now! Ajahn Brahm will joke that in every stage of our life we suffer. When we are little, we can't speak our mind yet, that's the kind of suffering that babies experiences, when we are teenagers, we get rebellious, our surroundings seem not in sync with us, that's another stage of suffering, when you are an adult, we get irritating questions like "have you got a girl/boyfriend?", "when are you getting married?", "Have you got a baby?", yeah... all kind of sufferings =p And in every step of my life, apart from the supporting family, I have a few friends that I treasure much!
I don't know how we manage to take this so far, and with each passing day, it's not getting stale. It's always the same, there is always the feeling of grateful after each meeting, grateful to have them, before, grateful to have them now, and hopefully in the future. I believe like all relationship, our feeling in this friendship is mutual (we can't make it if it's one sided), we give our best, our sincerity to one another, and be sensible. And that make it so valuable, priceless.
Cheers to Friendship! :)
Grateful Me,
Lin ^ ^