Brother from another mother

A few weeks ago I had lunch with my oldest friend - as in the person I have stayed friends with for the longest time. This friend happens to be a male and he {R} is my absolute best friend. Even if we haven't seen each other in over 6 months, we can pick up right where we left off. Our friendship has been going on for over 10 years now and he just gets me. We graduated high school together, we graduated college around the same time (though we went to rival schools), and now we are finishing our graduate programs at the same time. Of all my friends, R is the only one who ever knew my Dad, even though it was just for a brief amount of time. My Dad passed away just before we started high school and that was around the time our friendship began. At first, I will admit, I had a crush on him, and he knew this. It never went any further than that though and I'm so happy for that. We played tennis together. We were the two best players of the freshman on our team. We went to the same tennis academy. We stuck together through all of high school. Some of my best high school memories are with him. I was crushed when he decided to go to a different college than I was going to. I had always thought we would go to college together because we were both big FSU fans, but he chose UF in the end. I made frequent trips to Gainesville my freshman year. It was just a 2 hour drive away and home was a 6 hour drive, but Gainesville was my home away from home, away from home, during that first year. It was like I was visiting my brother. That's what he has been to me.

I think God puts certain people in our life for certain reasons and I am so thankful for this friendship. I wouldn't trade it for the world. At times, throughout college, when we would go a couple of months without talking to each other, I would be worried that our friendship wasn't as important to him as it was to me. But he always has a way of proving to me that it is. We don't have a regular chatting schedule, but timing has been everything in our friendship. He helped me get through my first year of college. He helped me get through my first major breakup in college. When I dated my ex-boyfriend, deep down I knew it wouldn't work out because he told me he wasn't good enough for me. His opinion is important to me and he gives great advice when I'm having guy issues. I just feel so blessed to have a friend I can count on, and have been able to count on for most of my life now. 

I read this quote below and it is so fitting for our friendship.

I value the friend who for me finds time on his calendar, but I cherish the friend who for me does not consult his calendar ~ Robert Brault

Linking up: #yolomondays