Friends are the family you choose yourself

I love my friends. I think I am very blessed to have such great friends as I do. They are the kind of friends you can laugh with and cry with. We hang out, we share interests, and we enjoy each other’s company. Not only that, but we get each other.

My friends get me. They understand what I am like, or at least they always understand where I am coming from. They never judge me, but they accept and respect me for who I am.

I guess to me that is the most important part of having friends: That I can say and do whatever I want when I am around them, because my friends let me be myself.

This cannot always be said for family. Relationships with relatives are complicated at best. Not that I should complain, because I have pretty great parents and an awesome sister. In fact, I would go as far as to say my sister is one of my bestest friends.

Still, the biggest problem with family is that you did not choose them. Just because you happen to be blood related, does not mean you should all get on splendidly.

I love my family, but there is a special place in my heart I have reserved for my friends. I do not know what I would do without them. My friends are the family I choose myself.