Building Genuine Connections

Some connections are simply meant to last a lifetime. But how often do we come across these kinds of connections?Genuine connections with people are amazing...and extremely rare from my personal experience. When I say genuine connections, I mean those relationships you have with specific friends, a significant other, etc. Those friendships that are built on the foundation of similar values, goals, purpose, and you get the idea. Let's be honest with ourselves, out of all your relationships with friends, colleagues, etc., how many of them could you truly see being by your side five years from now? I guess time will only tell, right? Well, that was surely the case for me and my recent conversation with a long-time friend from middle school back home in Pennsylvania. I still remember the day I approached her in 7th grade during gym class to "figure out how to use the gym lock", even though I just wanted an excuse to talk to her and become her friend (the usual ballsiness I have to approach people).Nearly eight years later, with about a 2-3 year period of barely seeing or talking to each other during high school (due to my transferring of schools), we recently touched base over the phone and hearing her talk about her current goals and life experience made me realize why we became friends in the first place.Her strength in pursuing her dream and preparation for grad school reminded me how similar we are in the way we attack our goals relentlessly and don't let others hold us back. And let me just say there are only a select few others in my life that I could say the same about. Her mindset is so incredible and the way she has matured over the years and shared this way of thinking with me has touched me incredibly and has truly brought me back to my roots.It's incredible to realize that we became friends at the age of twelve and here we are at the age of twenty, grinding our asses off to prepare for our future, all while having our own puppies (can't wait for Milu and Lulu to meet soon!). It's safe to say we are both over the college nonsense and look for purpose in our everyday life, whether it's school, wellness, relationships, we know what we want and will use our focus and determination to get there. It's amazing to have a best friend like this over the years, from 12 to 20, we have evolved into strong-minded and determined woman with very similar goals for ourselves. I'll definitely be seeing you at my wedding, D. <3xoxo