Best 11 quotes of Melanie Shankle on MyQuotes

And even though we knew it couldn't go on forever the way it was, I don't think any of us were ready for it to end so soon. Sometimes the end of an era comes when you still can't comprehend what that time meant - how it shaped you, and how you'll still miss it sometimes, even twenty-five years later.

And I realized it's kind of a metaphor for friendship in general- being willing to let someone see all your weaknesses and knowing they won't broadcast them to the world. Because life has a way of throwing things our way that aren't always pretty, and they can leave us vulnerable, hurting, and in desperate need of someone who will help us carry our burdens until we're safely on the other side.

And you know what I realize now? That we're all waiting on something, no matter where we are in life. It's the human condition.

But my personal favorite words of wisdom came from Gulley during the last thirty minutes of the trip, when she broke up a backseat scuffle by declaring, 'When you lick the person sitting next to you, there's a good chance you're going to get punched.' I believe the only reason that gem is missing from the book of Proverbs is because Solomon must never have traveled with three kids in the back of his chariot.

His love wrote the first chapters of my life and is the reason I never had to wonder if I was adored.

I believe that is what happened during this time in my life. God had other things for me, and he knew me so much better than I knew myself, so he moved me along to a new place. It certainly didn't lessen the pain at the time, but if I've learned anything along the way, it's that sometimes the best lessons are the ones that hurt the most.

It was the beginning of learning that I can't look to any one person to be my security blanket, and that my value goes deeper than one person's opinion of me. I learned that friendships are fragile and we need to handle them with respect and reverence.

Not one thing we've done changes that we are his. That he created us and loves us with a love more fierce and loyal than any we will ever know. He isn't looking for perfection. He's looking for humble hearts that know we are nothing without his lavish grace.

Sometimes the best families are the ones God builds using unexpected pieces of our hearts.

So we did the only thing we knew to do. We got in the car and drove to Dallas to be at the funeral with Jen. As she and her family walked down the center aisle behind her dad's casket, she smiled at us despite the big tears that were rolling down her cheeks. And that's when I learned one of the most important lessons I've ever learned about what it means to be a good friend: you show up for your people. You don't wait for your friend to ask you to come; you get in your car and go. You don't have to know the right words to say, you don't have to offer sage wisdom about loss and love; you just show up. You hold her hand and hug her neck and wipe her tears. You let her know that you hurt because she is in pain, and you'd do anything to take it from her if you could. You listen.... You show up for your friend, in the good times and the bad times.

Which is why we have now added a vow to our friendship that we will never ever "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" each other. That at we will always talk things out and never allow miscommunication to derail our relationship. But the whole conversation made me think about times in my life when I've felt that way, like I've been dropped with no sign that it was about to happen. And I think Gulley is right- it's the worst feeling in the world because it leaves you feeling completely helpless.