As a thirty-two-year-old, I reflect on my eight-year friendship with my best friend. 

The Value of having a Best Friend

The best part of having a best friend is that you’re never alone. With a best friend, no matter rain or shine, you always have someone to call on, who will always answer to help you or tell you everything will be alright. 

Attributes of a Best Friend

1. Cracks jokes in awkward situations.

Sometimes I say something out of line, embarrass myself, or I’m just in an anxiety-ridden situation, and my best friend always makes me laugh (sometimes too loudly.) 

2. Makes you feel better when you messed up. 

My best friend will admit my faults, rub my back, tell me it’ll get better, put on my favorite movie, crack open a beer, and sit with me as I circle in negative thinking. He will eventually pull me out of it. 

3. Encourages you to do it, even when you think you can’t.

Before I do anything I’m passionate about, I consult my best friend. I tell him all the reasons I’m scared to do ‘this or that’, and he will tell me why everyone else who does ‘this or that’ sucks and how I could do it better if I put my mind to it.

4. Keeps your secrets to the grave. 

You learned this one in elementary school. 

5. Doesn’t talk badly about you to others. 

I have had good friends that talk shit, but my best friend always has my back.

6. Spends time with you and your family even when you don’t want to. 

Spending time with family can be challenging but having your best friend with you makes it a boatload easier, especially when they seem to be having fun.

7. Picks you up when you’re stuck.

My best friend has picked me up all over California. I am so lucky to have someone who will drive fourteen hours to get me, to go to a party in the direction he came from.

8. Exaggerates all the bad qualities of an ex when you break up. 

After I met my best friend, ex-lovers never had a chance to bring me down for long. He knows how to make them sound real lame and for the future without them to seem real bright. 

9. Cooks you meals when you’re drunk. 

I’m not the best cook, especially when I’m drunk (you can say burnt toast again.) My best friend taught me to enjoy the finer foods in life. I think he’s everyone’s best friend when he’s cooking. 🙂

10. Corrects you when you are wrong. 

My best friend tells me when something isn’t right. He will give me a look like I’m crazy and say “no” sternly like a parent to a child.

11. Never says no to an adventure. 

On a whim, my best friend has taken me to really cool places, like the middle of the desert, just to watch the stars. 

12. Helps with your projects. 

No matter how much of an asshole I can be, my best friend always engages in all my projects, promotes me, and encourages me. He will pick me up when I fail and push me to do better. 

My favorite part about having a best friend is:

Having Inside Jokes

Ex. My best friend smells really good, but my ex smells baddd. 

Maintaining your Best Friend

1. Best friends love food and drinks. If they are not drinking, they love when you don’t drink too! Best friends love when you tip well. 
2. Best friends love when you express yourself in your style. Your best friend wants to wear their most outrageous stylish clothes too but only if you do!
3. Best friends don’t care when you fart, but you must clean up after yourself, like your hair in the shower or your mess near the sink. Being stinky is one thing, but to maintain a best friend, you must keep their area clean.
4. Best friends love best friend things. Best friend bracelets, hats, shoes, tattoos. Best friends love having symbols of your friendship.
5. Best friends want you to understand their family. Even if they don’t like talking about their families, being part of their family is part of being a best friend. 
6. Best friends love cuddles. Best friends are not normal friends, and they’re not your boyfriend or girlfriend, but they still love cuddles, and no one should get in the way of best friend cuddles. 
7. Best friends love honesty. If the person they are dating is no good, the outfit is no good, their direction in life is no good, it is the best friend’s job to tell their friend this. Even if the friend is very mad now, in the long run, it is the right thing to do. 
8. Best friends exercise together because we want to stay in good health. 
9. Best friends are not mean to their friends’ other friends because they know they can’t be the only friend. 
10. Best friends like vulnerability. If you can’t be honest with your best friend, are you even honest with yourself? 

Conclusion:

You don’t need a best friend to be happy. Sometimes you are just in between things in life or haven’t connected with anyone since High School. Hey, life is life. But, when you find a best friend, fight for your best friend, treasure your best friend, and don’t let them forget how much you care about them. Life can suck, but a best friend makes all the hard stuff that much better.