You asked:
> What do you find most valuable in a good/close friend?
I was just concluding, in a great conversation with someone earlier today, that the most valuable component of a good friend is the ability to be honest. And to remain committed to communication no matter what. I have a very close friend who, like me, is sensitive emotionally. There have been times when we’ve torn each other apart with our bluntness. But there is never a fear of losing the friendship because we know that no matter how much time apart it might take for us both to cool off, we will reopen the lines of communication and attempt to make repairs. It might sound exhausting but it’s not like a fiery hot/cold romantic relationship at all (which can be exhausting and unhealthy); it’s somehow comforting that we know we allow each other to lose our tempers and phrase things the wrong way. AND, we learn more each time so that now it hardly takes any time at all for us to go from fury to reconciliation. (We do appear sort of like a couple but we are just good friends.) That may be a complicated answer but it is what I find the most valuable, an ability to be honest with the knowledge that there is a commitment behind it. Harsh words don’t hurt as much if you don’t jump to a conclusion, “He must hate me!” And in all those many other friendships which aren’t as honest, there will always be moments when someone thinks, “Man, he/she’s frustrating me so much right now but I don’t dare say anything it would crush him/her!” And we hold it in and it weighs on us and hurts our psyche.
Phew! I’m not capable of being brief I guess.
My brain is frazzled right now. I will try to write a normal correspondence later.
some thinks gone wrong 