As cliche as it is, I believe friendship to be one of the most beautiful things that can flourish between humans - friendship is so powerful. It can build you up, it can break you down, it can be as strong or as shallow as you create it to be.

I pride myself in the fact that I'm a damn good friend to every person who is a friend to me, and I must attribute that quality about myself to the fact that my friends are absolutely incredible. I've been lucky enough to run into all of the right people through life - this includes the bad friends because those people reminded me to give bigger appreciation to the people who I count twice when I'm counting my blessings.

For the first friendships you ever had, so raw and innocent. You don't know what a friend is, but everybody is one of them.

Middle School Friends - awful, but at the time you were convinced those mean girls were going to be your best friends forever, and when one was mad at someone, they all were. The bond was justified by picking one best-friend in the group and tolerating the others.

MySpace friends fall here too. After all, the order of the "Top 5" was crucial.

High School Friends. The friendships that were coded in first-time experiences. Whatever you did, or didn't do, your high school friends were there to talk about it, or better yet experience those things with you. What you believe to be the best years of your life at the time with the best friends you'll ever have, the bond created with high school friends is powerful enough to make your nostalgia hurt. These friendships were those that you hand-selected or fell into based on a sport, social status, relationship, or class. And after four years, some will stay, some won't. But all will imprint.

College Friends - the bad influences, the good times. There are many stages of being a college student, all of which require people to bond with and claim as your friends. Whether they're really just people on your hall that you go to the cafe with for the first month of freshman year until you meet new people, the friends that go to frat parties with you where you drink too much and spill your life story in the bathroom, the friends you tailgate with before football games or sorority sisters - college friends serve the up-most importance, they give you home where you used to be a stranger to. College friends become your family.

The Best Friends,

The best friendships are those which challenge you but only for the betterment of your soul. They're always there, always. These people build you up, and without hesitation, you do the same for them. It is balanced, and it needs no explanation to flow. Best friends, whenever or wherever they happened to come about will remain comforted in the fact that the friendship will never diminish, even when the convenience does. You've seen one another in every form and never make a judgment.

Even if you don't find thrill and passion in the same things, you're excited that they love something so much. These are the bonds that are genuine, these are the friends that will be by your side as you marry the husband of your dreams, and who your future kids will refer to as family.

And... If you're lucky enough to have these friends, hold them tight and never forget to show your gratefulness for their presence - because there are few things that have the significant impact on happiness, hopefulness, and fun of life as them.