This One Goes Out to You...

To anyone who has ever hurt me, lied to me, betrayed me, upset me, ditched me, or made my life a living you know what. All because I may have made a mistake or two in my past.

Some people never know when they make a mistake.
Some people always know.
There comes a time, sooner or later, when you have to ask yourself, "Did I make a mistake? Should I have done that? Can I really live with what I just did?", and sometimes, when you really cross the line, you reach the point of no return. The point where no matter how hard you try to fix things, you won't be forgiven.

There are only a few ways to be 100% positive of who your true friends are.

One of those is shown when you make a mistake. When someone can still trust you, talk to you, love and respect you, even after making a mistake that you and other people would hate you for, that's when you know you've hit the jackpot.

Then there's the situation where it may take a while, but sometimes there are a few people who will come back to you after a huge mistake like that. Those are the times when you can look in the mirror and say, "They're still here for me when no one else is and when no one should be. But why?" The answer is simple.

They're a true, honest, loyal, forgiving friend.
And they know you'd do the same for them.

But what do you do when you're the loyal friend, who forgives your so-called best friend for something that may have left you in a pretty dark place for weeks, months, even years?
There's only one thing to do.

Let them go.

When they realize the bad things you've done are nothing compared to what they've done, they'll come back to you.

But they don't realize that when you let them go, they lost their chance to ever be forgiven, to ever be your friend again.

They lost their chance of having one person who truly loved them like family.

They lost a part of their life they could have had if they had just accepted the mistakes you had made.

They lost you.

I've always been the kind of person to own up to my mistakes. But I've lost some friends who I thought would always be there simply because they didn't forgive me. They didn't give me a second chance.

Life is full of second chances, some given, some received. When someone gets a second chance, they either take it and slack off, or they use it to fix why they needed one in the first place.

I've learned a lot in the past two years about friends and second chances.

For example, you can't live life watching from the outside, only getting involved when it's for your benefit.

You have to take second chances, give second chances, forgive, but not necessarily forget.

You have to live your life not just for you, but for others, because without them, where would you truly be?

No one can shape their entire life on their own. It takes ups and downs, new friends, old friends, ex-friends, best friends, and everything in between to shape your life.

Every broken promise, every broken heart, every lie you hear - it all changes your life.

For better or for worse.

But how you let it change you is up to you.

Who do you really want to be?

Because no one can answer that question or change the answer except for you.

"People change and promises are broken," but how you live your life is up to one person.

You.