Through thick and thin

One of my best friends called me tonight. We have that kind of relationship where she didn't even have to say a word before I knew something was wrong. She burst out that her grandfather had died and then collapsed into hysteria.

I literally stopped in my tracks. She went on to tell me he had died last week from an unknown cause and his body hadn't been found for three days. She told me about how present he was in her childhood and how he had worked so hard his whole life only to suffer. After talking for an while and offering to come over, I hung up. A couple of thoughts ran through my head after our conversation. One was to be thankful for my family and friends, because it is so incredibly easy to take them for granted. And I can't even begin to imagine going through what she must be.

Life is mysterious like that; it makes us question why bad things happen to good people for no apparent reason and why some things happen with no apparent reason. I've been struggling with this concept a lot recently it seems; I understand that things in life are there to make us stronger and shake us awake, but what I don't understand is why some people have to face hardship after hardship after hardship. Isn't one difficult test enough? It just doesn't seem fair.

The other thing I thought about was how many of these same calls I had received from this friend in the past. And she had received several from me. Especially one in particular, in which I had just gone through something horrific, and she had been the only person who answered the phone when I called at a ridiculous hour.

I love her so much, we have both been through so much together and no matter where we were, if we had just had a fight or what the situation was, we have always been there for one another.
Even though 60% of the time she is driving me nuts and I constantly feel like I have to explain things to her and hold her hand through things, I can't imagine my past without her nor can I imagine my future. She is the most inconsistent, unreliable and dramatic person I know, but I wouldn't change a thing.

I couldn't explain how our friendship works or how our two personalities mesh, but they do, and have for nine years. I can literally tell her anything; she holds some of my deepest secrets no other person on the planet knows. And she always has the right thing to say, whether or not I want to hear it. It has been a joy to watch her grow up from the tiny, oblivious Chinese girl who had just come to America into the independent, confident woman she is today.

I know I'll be there for future calls I receive from her as she will be for me. And no matter what life paths we choose or regions of the world we move to, I look forward to the day she stands next to me as one of my bridesmaids, the day we can stroll through the park with strollers and the day we'll sit in rocking chairs reflecting on everything we have shared.