Men and women share the exact same view of a best friend ----a person who is always there for you. Your best friend is some one you can depend on to share your happiness, suffer through your worries, or lessen your sorrow. As one man put it, “To me, a best friend is somebody that you call if you’re on the expressway and get a flat tire at 3:00 A.M. and you’ve been told ti’s four hours until a tow truck can be sent. Your friend says: Tell me exactly where you are, and I’ll come and get you.”

A great variety of factors play into the birth of a best friendship----the age and circumstances under which people meet, what first attracts them, why they remain close ,and how they fill each other’s needs. Yet I found the dominant themes that define a best friend were remarkably similar across the broadest range of experiences.

Safety was a world I heard over and over. A best friend is a safe harbour, a guaranteed comfort zone. You never have to explain yourself to best friends because they really, really know who you are. With best friends, you can be who you are .You can cry too hard and laugh too loud and never worry what they’ll think of you because best friend are nonjudgmental. They will give you advice if you want it and a kick in the pants if you need it, but best friends will not judge you or make you ashamed of your hehaviour. A best friend gives you what you expect from a parent and don’t always get: unconditional love.

Best friend are loyal and trustworthy. A best friend is a person to whom you can tell your most embarrassing, revealing, and damaging personal secrets with the full confidence they will never be repeated. Best friend can deliver brutally honest answer in the most gentle fashion

Finally, best friends are the family you choose. They love you because want to, not because they have to. And for many people, a best friend becomes the brother or sister they’d always wanted, but never had.

A man I knew asked his dying mother, “What has been the most important thing in your life?” He full expected her to say her husband, her children, or her family. Instead, without a moment’s hesitation, she replied sweetly, ”My friends.”