Ending a friendship is not always a "choice." I know everyone has seen friendships fall to the wayside. Watching a friendship slide away is never easy. It is always harder when you desperately want to salvage that relationship. I watched two dear friends slip further and further away over the past few years. No amount of invitations to get together, phone calls, emails or texts were sufficient. Each attempt at communication went unanswered and unacknowledged so that in time it was made clear in their non confrontational way that I was unnecessary.

When things did reach a boiling point I was told in cold terms that I didn't fit into their life and I hadn't tried hard enough with them. I felt like someone had slapped me. Had I not called, emailed and text at least 3 dozen times with no reply. Had I not asked time and time again what was wrong? Instead of fighting, I apologized for any hurt or wrong doing on my part, told them I loved them, and insisted that I would be there if they ever need me.

In retrospect, we never had a "true" friendship. It wasn't that they weren't true friends, but I was in a difficult place in my life. I'd lost track of who I was and what I was searching for. After a Romantic relationship soured, newly single, I was a drifter, and was desperately seeking to find myself. I was walking on shaky ground. They scooped me up like a lost puppy. That support was my life saver.

When I did begin to find my footing they were put out and upset, not in an immature way, but I wasn't the same person they had befriended. Looking back, I accept I changed. They were unable to understand why I had changed. I made difficult choices, choices not everyone understood. My only regret is that I wish I would have been given a change to explain my choices. I wish I would have been given a chance for them to accept the new me. The me I am extremely proud of today.

A good friend of mine once said that people come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Maybe their reason was to introduce me to the man I plan to marry. Maybe their purpose was to help me through a rough "season" in my life. Whatever their purpose was, I will always value them and the friendship we had. Walking away from them was the most difficult thing for me, but seasons change. Maybe I'll be the one to help them as they helped me someday... Maybe that friendship will find solid ground one day.

Learn more about this author, Molly Carter.
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