My friends must be Water Buffalos.

Watch this video, it's really brutal at first, but there is a story behind it. Trust me. SPOILER: The baby doesn't die!


The other day, I was having a conversation with family members. To make a very long story short, Ashley mentioned that she doesn't believe that you can be BEST friends with a person that "owns" one of your pet peeves. Like if your pet peeve is dirtiness, you cannot be best friends with someone that is filthy. I, on the other hand, slightly disagreed - stating that I have been "best" friends with people that contain my pet peeves. But to be honest, I haven't been able to get this conversation out of my head. It reminds me of the conversation, I once had with May when she let me know that she couldn't be friends with anyone she doesn't respect. I agreed that I respected all of my friends, but I could see myself being friends with someone that I didn't quite "respect." Anyways, throughout my life I've been incredibly fortunate to have conversations with people that have taken strong stances towards the people that they have in their lives; however although I've admired this characteristic, I found myself struggling to take strong stances...until now.

As I've gotten older, I've realized that loyalty is simply a must. I mean I can't lie, I will have a good convo and time with dern near anyone, but I can and will no longer call disloyal people friends. And in true "Shelby" fashion, I'm not quite sure "disloyal" is the right word. So, the best way to describe it is I want water buffalos in my corner, BECAUSE God knows I am a water buffalo.

I have many flaws as a woman, but disloyalty and fighting for my friends will never and has never been an issue. As Mike puts it, I'm a very "passionate" person and this "passion" is definitely shown through my love for my peoples (lol). I've never been known as a fake friend. My girls know that I have their backs when I'm beside them and when I'm not. When it comes to my closest friends, they KNOW without a doubt that no one can "go" there with me in the room and they know (even when they are wrong or do something ridiculous) I got their backs through thick or thin. What I'm trying to say is that I've gone to battle for my loved ones and I no longer want to be friends with those that won't do the same.

This is not to say that I don't expect friends to talk amongst friends/family about my ridiculousness (can you believe Shelby did this?) or for friends to not let me know when I am wrong. No one is above critique, but when it's time for battle, when someone is slandering my name or ready to go in (being disrespectful) - I want my friends to be there and fight with me.

Now, let's be clear it's completely easy for me to write this post because I know for fact MOST of my closest girlfriends are like this. I've had most of my closest girls go to war for and with me (shout out to y'all!) and I love them for that.

And to come completely clean, I haven't had to deal with "real" drama in years and years. But I do realize that as I get older the teenage drama dies down and the adult drama becomes more serious. People no longer solely make fun of your outfit, but slander your relationship, play with your job, your children, and your mental well-being. And when I look at my life and the people that I want in it for the remainder of it I envision people with HUNDREDS of flaws that come from all over the world with crazy life experiences. The only criteria I have is that my friends must be water buffalo.

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