Why We'll Always Forgive Our Friends... Even If They're F*cking Crazy

What is it about friendship that transcends all boundaries? The omega of relationships. It truly is impermeable -- no matter what happens, nothing can break it.

We’ll always forgive our friends, always help them and always move on -- even if the same can’t be said about those we’re sharing our beds with.

You’d think we’d have more tolerance for bloodlines and those we’re sharing fluid with, but those random people we met in high school and college are the ones we’re always ready to risk anything for.

Those few special people inhabit more of our time, energy and memories than anyone else. Those few people who can be absolutely insane and drive you out of your mind.

The territory of best friends is vast and expanding, but comes with a hell of a lot of weed whacking.

Because you're that special person who knows them better than anyone, you also have to deal with them more than anyone. For the price of everlasting BFF status, you pay with a few rough days.

But hey, if you didn't know everything, they wouldn't be your best friends. If you just knew their good sides, it would be nothing more than a notch above college acquaintance.

You know their flaws and their demons. You know their bad moods and their good moods.

You know what pushes their buttons and what’s going to start a fight. You also know you’re always going to forgive them when the next big one comes around.

Why is that? How are our friends so immune to our wrath? Why can we can forgive and forget so easily with them, but with everyone else, we like to hold a permanent grudge?

Why can our friends act like total psychos, and we have no problem pretending everything is normal?

Because they’re more than family

We all know how the saying goes, so once you’ve selected the people you consider your true family, it’s hard to turn your back on them.

You’ve been through too much together and know too much about each other’s real families to ever let them go crawling back.

You really can't understand the unfaltering love your parents have for you until you’ve put up with your best friend’s sh*t.

Because they’re not so easy to pick up in a bar

Yes, we all make drunk friends after two tequila shots, but besides the third round or pre-game invitation you extend or accept from them the next weekend, it’s not real.

It’s not the relationship you’ve been fostering and nurturing for years. It’s not the memories -- the highs and the lows.

It’s not the secrets, the obsessions and guilty habits you’ve gained and lost together.

Because they know too much about you

Every time you want to hate them for their ridiculous antics and mood swings, you remember exactly what they put up with from you.

You learn to let them unload on you because that's exactly what you do to them (and you need that).

They’ve seen your worst sides and your dirtiest moments, and no matter how close you think you are to your family and your significant other, only your best friends have seen those evil nasty parts that they're taking to the grave with you.

Because it’s the most honest relationship you’ve ever had with anybody

Just because you share a bed with someone doesn’t mean you’re completely naked with him or her. At least, not the way you are with your best friends.

A man will never replace the bond of womanhood, and girlfriends will never replace the bonds of brotherhood.

As honest and open as any of our sexual relationships are, there will always be pieces of ourselves we hide for fear of rejection from the other person.

With our friends, rejection is just not an option.

Because you need them just as much as they need you

When everything else falls apart and breaks away, it’s your friendship that you go back to, time and time again.

If you don’t have your friendships, if you give up on them as easily and as quickly as you give up on everything else, you’re left with nothing.

They are the permanent ground on which you’ve built your adult life upon, and even when they piss you the f*ck off, they’re the closest thing you have to your own home once you've left the nest.

Because you’d rather hate them than not have them

Misery loves company, and best friends will always rather be miserable together than alone.

It’s true. No matter how mad you make each other, sometimes each other’s company is enough to assuage the troubled times.

Sometimes sitting across from them at brunch -- with nothing left to say -- is still better than sitting across from anyone else.