My True Friend

What is a true friend? I've alway had trouble figuring that out. After all the people that I've encountered in my life I still haven't managed to meet someone where I can truly trust and genuinely be myself. Many times I thought I found someone whom was someone I could trust but then it would turn out that they were fake friends and that I was either getting used or they just lose interest in me. Why? Does a friendship have to be something where someone has to offer something else to the other person? An example of this is when I'd have "friends" inside a community; perhaps in a sport team. I was able to find great teammates where we had great chemistry between us but we never talked outside of practice. I feel like people enjoyed my actions more than who I really am. They enjoyed playing soccer but when it would come to hang out and do something else they would always seem too "busy". There would be a friend group inside a premed group. Why? Why do people exclude others? 

In six years here in the States I thought I found my best friend. My family and I even took him on vacation with us but I never saw the favor done in return...Now you might say that his family might not be able to afford it which is a faire point. What about when I'd be there for him in need of help? I would always be there for him but whenever I needed him most, he never bothered answering me back. I'd have to deal with things by myself. Why? 

In high school I was able to make a friend group where we were all close to each other and treated each other like brothers. Everything changed after we would talk about each other badly behind their backs and one day things went downhill. We ended up splitting up and I haven't told the the person whom I was closes to back at the time. We recently started to get back together but we are all busy now that we are out of high school. One is in college, one is in the military and one is working. We all started to have different lives. There was only one person that stuck by my side through all of this. Unfortunately he ended up getting on probation for something he didn't do. He was at the wrong place at the wrong time. This made things even harder. My parents forbid me to see him ever again, they said that he was no good and that his life didn't see to go anywhere. I obeyed and for the year when he was on probation I didn't see him.

Once he was done with his probation I still wasn't allowed to see him and I hated that. He was the only friend that remained with me and I was the one to abandon him. I felt guilty and started to see him again behind my parent's backs. I had to lie to them and tell them that I was hanging out with someone else so they'd let me go out and I'd be able to see my friend for a few hours. 

He knew that I wasn't allowed to see him and I know that he suffered because of it. 

I believe that during the time we didn't see each other, he started to figure his life up and started off with losing 100 pounds. He lost that weight in one year. After seeing him I was impressed. I could tell that he made different kind of friendships and that is now heading toward the right direction. 

After I told him that I wasn't supposed to see him again, he always told that he wanted to talk to my parents and tell them that he is now a new person. I was scared, didn't know what my parents would of said and done so I kept telling him that I would see what I could do when in reality I was just trying to void that from happening. 

Now that I am moving back to Europe, I want to spend my last days with my best friend. I didn't want to hide it anymore and I wanted to show my parents that I was proud to be his friend and that he has been a true friend to me. 

Since he has always been asking me to let him speak with my parents I decided to promise him that I would actually take it into consideration and that I would talk about it with my parents. 

Today was the day, I opened my heart and decided to put my friend before my parent's requirements. I first told my mom and explained her everything. It was tough to tell her everything but she finally understood. With my dad it was hard for him to accept the fact that I lied to them many times about who I was hanging out with but after talking and explaining he understood as well. 

I am glad that I took this decision and decided to stand up for my friend. He would of done the same. I am glad now that I can freely spend the rest of the days with my best friend with no regret and no need to hide. I know it will lift a huge weight from his shoulders and he deserves it.

He is the only person who understand me perfectly. He is the only friend whom I personally trust. He is the most loyal person that I've met and I know he will not give up on our friendship when I got back to Europe. 

Thank you for being my only true friend.