Friends

I have been posting mood statuses about friends too much lately. Infact I have been watching friends for the nth time these days and I thought I might address it here on our written podcast!
As someone who first saw friends in 2018, as a teenager I loved the show because that is what life was all about back then, Friends! My friends too were a very essential part pf my life but that was only from one dimension in that age. It was a physical presence, we were always there around each other.
Now as I watch the show I realised how important it is in terms of adult friendships and relationships. As a teenager I saw that it was fun to have friends around you all the time, to fall in love with one and for the rest of your lives, have them be tird to your daily routine.
As an adult though, I see what having friends around is really about. It is more a luxury now to have people that are close be close physically too.
Sometimes weeks or months pass without meeting, even though nothing about the friendship has changed.
That is probably what makes Friends feel so comforting to me now. It is not just about the jokes or the ridiculous situations anymore. It is the idea of having a place where you can simply show up. You can walk into someone's apartment without making a plan. You can sit on a couch after a terrible day. You can be annoying, vulnerable, silly, angry, or completely quiet, and still know that you belong there.
I think that is what I missed when I was younger. I thought friendship was about being together all the time.  Now I think it is also about remaining connected even when life keeps pulling you in different directions.
Maybe that is why I keep coming back to the show. I am not watching it just for the nostalgia anymore. I am watching it for a version of adulthood where your people are still within reach.
And perhaps, at this stage of life, that is the real luxury—not having a hundred friends, but having a few people who still feel like home, even from miles away. People you may not speak to every day, people you may not see for months, but when you finally do talk, it somehow feels like no time has passed at all.