Happy International Friendship Day (4 min. rd.)

Today is International Friendship Day, so I want to dedicate this blog to my siblings. I have two sisters and one brother. With my sisters, we’re all around the same age. The boy is much younger, but he’s an adult. I still call him a little brother.

They’re all in the business real estate path while I’m on the humanities road. They’re into classic hard rock, heavy metal, and oldies. I’m a big fan of pop music or any big hit on the radio while they despise it. But I like all kinds of genres, even classics, and oldies. They claim their ears are versatile too, except anything that’s mainstream. Okay, whatever that means.  

Growing up, they saw me as the older sister, and I saw them as the younger ones. I defended them when I needed to, and they did the same. It wasn’t until we were all adults that we really had the opportunity to know each other. In fact, I’m surprised how much I didn’t know about them. I can finally call them not only siblings, but I can also call them my friends.

Most of the time siblings seek their independence from each other. We want to have our own friends and social life. But I didn’t understand the true connection of having a blood-related family member as a friend. It probably sounds terrible, and yet that is the truth about some siblings. I now know how truly unique it is, and it doesn’t compare to any other friendship. In spite of our closeness, we’re still not afraid to call each other out when we are wrong, and I like that because it keeps me level-headed.

We can freely agree and disagree knowing that we’re not going to hate each other for it. We might get into a form of argument if it’s a strong topic. But we will never think about ending the relationship. Sisters and brothers are special, and I’m glad life gave us an opportunity to know each other better and to be friends. 

The reason I state this is because my parents have very broken relationships with their siblings. And it’s quite sad because pride is bigger than having a relationship with someone you shared the womb with and a person you grew up with. It breaks my heart to see such picture.

At times we may have a beautiful friendship with the least people we expect it or the most obvious ones. So pay attention to those “hidden friends” because you may miss them. Of course, friends don’t have to be family members. But special friends just don’t appear out of nowhere. They are rare jewels so care for them.

One last thing, I think Lady Gaga’s “The Cure” represents a good friendship. And no, it’s not a sexual song in spite of the first lines. She was inspired by seeing the love of mother toward her child.

Happy International Friendship Day to my sisters and brothers, and my other friends.

©Ana P. Rose & Anaprose 2017.