Love despite annoyance

I lived (officially and unofficially) with the same 2 roommates all through college. We went through EVERYTHING together: the good, the bad, the ups, the downs, for better or worse, ‘til death do us part. All three of us went through bouts of extreme closeness tempered with loathing for each other. We often likened it to becoming sisters at a breakneck pace, minus the fighting over toys, we were pretty good about sharing our toys by that time. Candy, too.

Anyway, I think I’ve finally figured out when a friend ascends from the “friend” category into the “sibling” category: when I find that I simultaneously am annoyed by, and yet warmly love them.

And by annoying, I mean a recoverable type of annoying, one that has a 24 hour lifespan. There are some people that are annoying in an unforgivable way, or don’t have some other glowing personality attribute to off-set the annoying. Those people have little to no hope of ascension. But my friends are “quirky,” “individual,” “particular,” and any other adjective hiding a miniscule grain of insult only detectable with the right voice inflection coupled with an eyebrow raise or “air quotes.” And I can say this because I know full well that they would say the same thing about me, no pots calling kettles black here.

But the important part is the “warmly love” part. I quite literally get a warm feeling in my heart (ha! I rhymed!). We take care of each other, we look out for each other, we’re thoughtful for each other, we do each other favors, we give each other advice, we help each other out, we wish each other well and truly mean it… the list could go on and on, and I could if I wanted, but I’m thinking of your best interests. That’s the kind of friend I am.