Growing up, I’ve always had heaps of friends. I’m a very social person, and making friends has always come naturally to me.

I’ve always enjoyed being around people, making connections and getting to know those I cross paths with.

But there was a time in my life when it felt like almost everyone I grew close to eventually drifted out of my life.

Sometimes I understood why, but other times, I honestly couldn’t make sense of what had happened.

I started asking myself if maybe I was the problem. If so many friendships kept ending, surely I had to look at myself too.

As I got older, I stopped believing that history alone was enough to keep a friendship going.

I started paying more attention to who I kept around and learned to accept when a connection had simply run its course.

The Friendships That Feel Like Home

There are people in my life that have stood the test of time.

We’ve been through plenty of changes, gone in different directions, and experienced things that could have easily pulled us apart.

But somehow, those friendships are still here.

The Ones I Kept

Lieta was my childhood friend, my very first friend. 

We grew up together from primary school, coming from the same little village back home.

Somewhere along the way, our friendship became more like family.

We've even gone through very similar chapters when it came to our love lives, and those experiences only brought us closer. 

What I appreciate most about her is the way she shows up for me. She's the kind of friend who reminds me that it really is the little things that count.

Lovely was my better half, the friend I had when I first stepped into the real world.

We met through a mutual friend and connected almost instantly. We were carefree and ready to see where life would take us.

Whenever we were around each other, I felt almost unstoppable. 

We lived like there was no tomorrow, and that time gave me some of my favourite memories. We were inseparable until she eventually moved to Australia.

She’s one of those friends I can go months without talking to but the moment we do, it feels completely natural.

So much has changed since we were those two young girls, but our friendship has never felt any less familiar.

She’s a keeper.

Mj Tohi is the friend I never saw coming, and one of the most loyal women I know.

Most friendships grow through shared experiences and time spent together, but ours began in a completely different way.

We met through social media and spent so much time talking that I eventually found myself telling her everything about my life.

She was someone I knew through a screen, yet I trusted her with parts of me that I wouldn’t share with just anyone.

There was never a moment where I had to question where she stood with me. I never had to ask her to be a good friend, she simply was. 

We finally took our friendship beyond the screen and met in person in 2023, but by then she already felt like someone who had been part of my life for so long.

She was almost like a shadow, always there even from a distance.

Now, I find myself wanting to protect this friendship with everything in me because when I count my blessings, I count her twice.

She really is that one friend worth a thousand bitches.