Love and Hate(girls of all ages)

As I was taking pictures of my daughter and her 3 wonderful best friends I was wondering to myself if they would still be friends in 3 years, 2 years or even next month. It took me back to when I was 12 years old. I also had several best friends. In fact there was a whole group of us that hung out together on the playground at recess. I bet some of you oldies from elementary school still have pictures of all of us....haha!!!Of course the sad fact is that as the years went by, the friends who we considered "best" in 6th grade were pretty close to enemies by 8th grade.Heck, my best friend and I (from 4th-7th grade) hated each other from 8th grade until the time I left Jerome. We finally hooked back up again 2 years ago and made our peace but for those few years in high school we did NOT see eye to eye!!! It was like all of the years we shared with Cabbage Patch Kids and sickly eraser friends in a make believe hospital didn't even exist.It's weird how we go through stages with friends during our whole lives(girls and ladies). One year your best friends and then you have a fight and don't talk for 10 years. To this day, I only have 2 friends that I considered "best" in school that I am still friends with today and that is not without ups and downs and a year or two spent apart. I know 'they' say that some friends come in and out of our lives for different reasons and or seasons and that is perfectly normal but sometimes I think it is because we get caught up in all the bull poo and nothing can ruin a friendship faster.We forget how precious our friends are and the back biting begins, the spreading and listening to gossip, jealousy, resentment, the having sore feelings but not mentioning it in time and of course the snide comments and the judgments take over. Before you know it the friendship is over and everyone is talking about everyone else like they were never friends at all. Hurt feelings for everyone!!!!!It's sad isn't it? It's sad when you look back at a friendship and can clearly see(after the fact)what ended it, what made it go sour. Most of the time it's something silly or a mis-communication, a little ant hill made into a great big mountain that neither one was willing to climb over.As my daughter and her best friends laugh and giggle today, I have one wish for them. I wish for all of them many more years together. The strength and courage to look beyond their pride and not get caught up in the "she said, she said", but mostly that they all have big enough hearts to always treat each other with love, respect and maintain honesty when it is the hardest thing to do.Heck, I wish that for all of us too!!!To all my friends from 1985 through today I wish for us honesty, strength, courage, a little less pride and a little more love!!!!!!!!!! Be honest when your hurt and apologize when you should before it's to late!!!!!! Love for everyone!!!!