Friend with a Capital F

I must admit that I don't care much for the term "best friend." I guess it's because we moved around a lot when I was young, always making me the "new kid" at school. Out of necessity I became pretty good at making new friends. However, I always felt a little like a third wheel being accepted by a group of kids who had been friends forever (or so it seemed). They had a history together, inside jokes and all. Even in kindergarten I became friends with kids who had been friends their whole lives!

Thankfully, I do have best friends now, even though some of them live in other states, but I try not to call them that in order to spare the feelings of those who don't have close friends. I call these women friends with a capital F (only in my mind, of course, since people would then be forced to call me a freak).

These are women who I have supplied with enough dirt from my life to make me hide in my house out of sheer embarrassment for the rest of my life if they ever revealed it.

I have conversations with these women that start like this, "You will not believe the stupid thing I did today . . ."

These are women who have seen me without my hair done and/or without makeup and don't cringe.

These are women I can veg out with -- watching a lame movie while trying to beat more levels on Candy Crush Saga.

They like the same shows, books, and movies I do and will talk about them with me like we're Siskel and Eibert.

All of these seemingly insignificant things have given us the intimacy needed to pray with, cry with, and rejoice with each other. I have given my friends with a capital F the freedom to tell me when I'm wrong. They accept me for who I am, faults and all . . . and I love and accept them, faults and all.

So if you are one of my friends with a capital F, please don't be offended when I don't refer to you as my BFF. You know who you are. You know how grateful I am for you. Let's leave it at that.

If you don't have a friend with a capital F yet, keep looking. I've heard the saying all my life and I'm sure you have, too: if you want a friend, show yourself friendly.

Proverbs 27:17--"As iron sharpens iron, so one friend sharpens another."