My Life Long Friends :: Friendship Essay

My Life Long Friends      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Looking around my living room, I see my greatest friends of my life are all around me on my book shelves.   Every book I lift off the shelf pinpoints a time in my life.   They represent all the joy, sorrow, and laughter felt in my life.  Ã‚   The large, shiny red poetry book my father read to me reminds me of all of these.   It is probably my favorite.   Then I recall my people friends that attended school with me through the years.   What great fun they were!   I doubt I'll ever forget the smell of my kindergarten class and my first meeting with Belle Hudson.   As I get older, I realize how precious that friendship was.     It taught me how to be a friend and what I have seen in her is what I have looked for in friends ever since.   Now as an adult, I see Belle in friends like Tiffany, Rachelle and it seems my favorite characters in my books have always reminded me a bit of Belle.   Belle had a profound effect on me in childhood as well as later on in life.   She was my finest friend throughout grammar and Junior High school.   We fancied relishing our lunches together.   Laughing about the boys' wicked ways and planning our revenge   at the ensuing recess.   This always made lunch go by so swiftly.   It was hard to tear us apart.   Hell, it was hard to tell us apart.   We were both round bodied and a bit out of shape. But I always saw Belle in a jovial light.   She had a merry way about her, and her laugh was infectious; it reminded me if Christmas bells, tingly, jingling and warm.   I miss her.   She was happy, giving and warm.   Upon reflection, these are the attributes I look for in friends.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Rachelle holds a special place in my heart.   I work with her and have found her to be a superb listener and always seems to know how to dole out the right advice. It seems no issue is too large to solve, and I would love to duplicate her upbeat nature   in me. It was our mutual interest in books, not our hiring at the same company that   brought us together.   She desperately wants to be a great writer.   I know she will be.  Ã‚   As our friendship deepens, she has helped me realize my own potential.   Although younger than I, Rachelle has lived a much tougher life.   I could say I know this as hear her words of