I believe that friendship is more than just two people feeling trust and affection toward each other. Friends share a brain. True friends have a connection through the soul. If one friend is happy, sad, or scared all true friends can share these emotions. Friendship is one of the greatest bonds known to humankind.
Growing up in a small town in northern central Montana I had only one true friend, Tyler. He was my next door neighbor since the age of four. Growing up we would play childhood games, just like every other child, but at the age of five we both joined the local swim team. When we started neither of us knew how to swim so we had to swim together, alone, in the sallow end of the pool. There were many other boys and girls our age that joined the swim team, but Tyler and I always had special connection between us.
This bond took time to form. For Tyler and me it was always spending our summers swimming. Every summer we would spend two hours of every weekday in the pool together. This meant getting up at 6:30 a.m. while the other kids slept in. Waking at that early hour everyday with a person is what made the bond that Tyler and I had so special. As we swam together we would push each other to work hard. Just swimming without the other was harder. The final summer that we swam was our thirteenth year of swim team. We had not planned it to be the final year but on November 24, 2005 Tyler was killed in a car accident. Immediately I thought my best friend was gone forever. That special bond that had been building was instantly severed. I did not know what I was going to without that bond.
As I started to move on I found that the bond of friendship is never gone. The bond that I had formed was so great that it transgressed even death. The connection that Tyler and I had was not just because we were neighbors but was spiritual. Everyday that I wake up I still think of him and his spirit is still with me. The connection that we had made still encourages me to drive toward success in my everyday life, just like we had done in the pool.
As I move on from my small town in Montana I start to realize that everyone has friendships as great as Tyler and I had, but I do not think that everyone sees how great it is. With a great friend you both become better people. The bond between the souls makes both friends even greater people. This greatness is why friendship is more than just two people feeling trust and affection toward each other.