I am thankful for my real friends. I know you all probably have at least one of your own. He or she is that friend who loves you day in and day out no matter what. You can share all of your secrets with them, laugh until you cry, dance with them like no one is watching, cry the ugly cry, tell the truth, never wear a game face, count on them to be there before you ask … You get the picture.
“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”
“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.
“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”
“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”
“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
from The Velveteen Rabbit
I am so very thankful for my real friends. If this made you think of someone, drop them a note or give them a call. Real friends are a treasure.
