make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other’s gold. we used to sing this song at the end of our girl scout meetings, and only now as an adult do i fully comprehend those words i belted out (probably off- key) so many years ago. like the metals of gold and silver, friendships are precious. and accordingly, they should be protected. because if taken care of and kept well-preserved, these friendships will last you for years, decades, even. they will grow with you, defying time and space and circumstance. they will remind you of who you are when you inevitably lose your way, and they will fill you a goodness that reminds you of why God never intended for man to be alone.

as an extremely independent person, i constantly have to fight my propensity for solitude. it’s one of the reasons i truly enjoy living alone and how sometimes on the weekends i have to remind myself to at least go to the grocery store or starbucks because i haven’t interacted with another human in upwards of 12 hours. but even the most extremist of introverts crave community. we were built for it after all. and nowhere has this need for friends, true friends, not-merely-based-on-convenience-or-common-life-stage-friends rang more true than in my twenties. these years after college where roads diverge instead of converge and miles and milestones easily sever ties.

the friendships i have made in the last five years alone have enriched my life more than i ever knew possible. if these bonds are gold, they are certainly 24-carat. and the silver ones, the ones that have withstood braces and acne and the perils of high school, these have only deepened with the passage of the calendar’s pages. they remind me of my past, but in the best possible way. they are perhaps my most cherished bonds. these sisterhoods that have survived life after graduation and everything that that entails.

so today i am thankful for my friendship community. for one half of the bonds who have seen me at my worst, and encouraged me to become my best. the ones that started when i had caterpillars for eyebrows and a gap in my teeth and the ones that almost appeared out of nowhere thanks to social media and professions in the same industry. i am thankful for the sisters who have continued to pour into me even though they now belong to a mister. and the misters who are just as close to me as any sister, too. i am so blessed to have people in my life that know me, truly know me and my idiosyncrasies and quirks and despite all of those things, and maybe because of them, too. they choose to love me anyway.

*these photos reflect just a sampling of my friend community. to those of you who aren’t pictured above, we really need to get on that whole taking pictures together train.