Recently, one of my best friends,
whom I've shared just about
everything with since the first day of kindergarten, spent the weekend
with me. Since I moved to a new
town several years ago, we've both always looked forward
to the few times a year when we can see each other.

Over the weekend, we spent hours and hours, staying up
late into the night, talking about the people she was
hanging around with. She started telling me stories about
her new boyfriend, about how he experimented with drugs
and was into other self-destructive behavior. I was blown
away! She told me how she had been lying to her parents
about where she was going and even sneaking out to se
e this guy because they didn't want her around him. No
matter how hard I tried to tell her that she deserved better,
she didn't believe me. Her self-respect seemed to have
disappeared.

I tried to convince her that she was ruining her future and
heading for big trouble. I felt like I was getting nowhere. I
just couldn't believe that she really thought it was
acceptable to hang with a bunch of losers, especially her
boyfriend.

By the time she left, I was really worried about her and
exhausted by the experience. It had been so frustrating, I
had come close to telling her several times during the
weekend that maybe we had just grown too far apart to
continue our friendship - but I didn't. I put the power of
friendship to the ultimate test. We'd been friends for far too
long. I had to hope that she valued me enough to know
that I was trying to save her from hurting herself. I wanted
to believe that our friendship could conquer anything.

A few days later, she called to say that she had thought
long and hard about our conversation, and then she told me
that she had broken up with her boyfriend. I just listened on
the other end of the phone with tears of joy running down
my face. It was one of the truly rewarding moments in my
life. Never had I been so proud of a friend.