What does a friend mean to you?

To me, it's someone I can be myself around, completely be myself.

I've always had plenty of friends. My interests vary plenty enough I can usually find something in common with anyone. I may not necessarily be buddy-buddy with everyone, but I can find some common ground with them.

But, I'd only say I've had one "best friend". (By best friends, I mean inseparable.) Well, I met her in middle school. We soon became as inseparable as possible considering we lived an hour apart and weren't in the same class. We stayed very close for the next four years. We've had our ups-and-downs in the sense we'd go six months without talking, but we ALWAYS picked right back up where we'd left off. Well, that time has now come where we haven't spoken in almost 18 months to 2 years. She's done some not so courteous things that have hurt my feelings. I do take some blame for our loss of communication, but I've never intentionally been rude to her. I consider her my sister would even be upset if anyone intentionally hurt her feelings. I've tried to contact and even seen her in the last year, and our relationship seems terribly stressed. I've accepted that we might never be close again, but I just want some sense of acquaintanceship (act as if we know we each other we see each other).

I say all of that to say this, next time you see your "best friend" give them a big hug. Also, never take their friendship for granted.

Edit: I saw her the other day, and everything was normal! Yay!