@LadiesofHive Community Contest #299 questions for the week are:

1️⃣ There's a long-standing belief that genuine female friendships are rare to find or difficult to sustain. Has this influenced the way you approach or interact with other women in your space? Are there aspects of female friendships that you have come to appreciate the most, and how have you also navigated the challenges that comes with building something intentional with females?
~ 𝐀𝐍𝐃 / 𝐎𝐑 ~
2️⃣ Tell us about a memorable friendship experience that made you realize you had found someone who would always have your back. What did they do that left such a lasting impression on you, and how has that friendship changed your view about life?

Friendships are relationships of heart, they are not by birth and hence I believe they are the strongest, because they are not given to them, you choose them. As per me, this belief is very wrong that a genuine female friendship is difficult to sustain, yes it may be rare to find, but once you find it is more difficult to break it.

My soul sister, my best friend who I have been together with for almost 30 years now, is the best thing that has happened in my life. We met on our first job, it was first for both of us, we were fresh graduates then. It was an instant click, there was no effort required. Felt like we knew each other from much before. Our choices and taste kind of everything was similar. The only difference between me and her is that I am quick in making decisions and she is an over analyzer. Over all these years we have had many moments where we have fought with each other, not spoken for a while, hold grudges also for a while, but then still in the end we come together, because our bond is much more stronger then our differences.

Having a female friend is the most fun part of life. You can do all the madness with your female bestie. I have done some crazy things with my bestie. She is a little sober then me and always keeps me in control. For the first 15 years of our relationship we were in the same city, staying at a distance of 15 minutes from each other. After spending full day in office together, we would again catch up for a evening walk or dinner. She had my back and I had hers. Time and again life gave us opportunities to prove our love for each other and it always succeeded.

This is a picture of us in our early 20s when we our friendship was very new.

Us now :-)

Then came a moment when she got married and moved to a new Country, miles away from me. I was very angry, felt betrayed and though we did speak regularly, I had gone cold. She did realize that. We could always make out what the other one felt. We gave time to ourselves, in the process had some heartfelt conversations and things got back on track. We made a promise to each other to meet at least once a year. And we have been doing that.

The most funny thing was, while we were both together we never thought of being friends with anyone else, we knew lot of people and our social circle was big, but it was just knowing each other. So after parting ways, both of us were lost for a very long time and there was emptiness. Physical presence do matter a lot. With time we made new friends in our respective places. Yet, the same bonding has never happened with anyone till date. I have many friends now, but still no one with who I can share every part of me, and that place still remains with her only.

Before she came in my life, it was the same, I knew people, but no strong bonding. After her in my life, I got to know what true friendship means. While our choices matched our personalities were different and we both would adjust to each other, there were times when she would give in and times where I would. The best part was we never even let each other feel about it that there was a sacrifice being made, it is all silent and beautiful. We never had to prove our friendship to each other. I was married and at times my hubby was even jealous about our friendship.

I can go on and on about this most beautiful relationship of my life, but in the end all I can say is. If there is such relation in your life all one needs to do is nurture it and cherish it. Be grateful for it, because these are very rare.

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