rent -A-friend

This is a subject that has been lingering around in my head for years now and it took a poem written by my bew Angie for me to finally address it. The poem states how this one individual is working hard to succeed at their dream but they have this weight, their friend who holds them back. Not purposefully or out of malice but because they're simply not taking the same route as you. It's a very touchy subject. I mean, how do you just up and leave your friends behind for your dreams? These may be the very same friends who were there when you received your first kiss or the friend that lent you money when you needed it the most. Maybe it's the friend that was there when your dad died or when your mom was diagnosed with cancer. Are you just supposed to up and leave them after all of that? Then that age old saying came to mind, "Some friends come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime". I can't even begin to express how true that is. I've had so many friends that I thought were gonna be with me for the long road only for the friendship to just evaporate. Of course I'd try to fight for the friend only to realize it's a one-sided fight. People change, grow and move on. And while it's hard to swallow it's probably the truest thing I've ever read.

So, what happens now? Do I become skeptical of who I befriend out of fear that one day we'll no longer be able to bestow that title upon one another? Do I continue to fight for those very friends knowing that there was something that once held us tight like glue? Or do I take it as a lost and accept the small amount of time that that very 'friend' was in my life?

Many rented friends will come into my life from this point on; it's pretty much inevitable. I won't put up a fuss when our time suddenly expires and it's time to turn them back in. I'll simply thank my rented friend for the time they've granted me and move on with my life.