James Taylor said it best

At the risk of sounding like a Hallmark card, I just want to say how great friends are. Of course I think this often, but my weekend just happened to be filled with friends from very different periods in my life and it made me realize how wonderful substantive friendships are. I won’t get into touchy-feely details, but let’s just say that in a period of 24 hours in Washington D.C., I was able to spend time with a friend from high school who never ceases to amaze me with her ambition and classiness; a friend from college who is as obliging and upbeat as ever; a friend from London who is quite honestly one of the funniest people I’ve ever met (who else would leap—literally leap—into a room in Superman underwear?); a friend from New York who is quickly becoming one of my best friends; and a friend I've known my entire life (ok, this one's obvious) who is incomparable. I’m not trying to give ‘shout outs,’ but simply illustrate the point that people will come and go in our lifetimes and we should cherish those who we can truly consider friends.

Anais Nin said that “each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” I LOVE this. We surround ourselves with people that bring out things in us that might otherwise get buried forever. Yin and Yang, my friends. And ever notice how you have different friends for different things? In turn, you most likely fulfill a specific need to your friends. (Why do I feel like a daily devotional right now?) Everyone has the “going out” friend, the “call when you’re upset” friend, the “drunk-dial” friend, the “good news” friend, etc. Often times we may try to encompass many things, but inevitably succeed at some more than others. In this way our true character is revealed. Look at your friendships and they will truly show you what type of person you are.

So even though National Friendship Day isn’t until August 7th (FYI—in 1935 it was created by Congress to recognize the value of friendship. God bless Google.) take a second to just be thankful for friends. What a lonely, pitiful world we would live in if they weren’t there to sustain us.