I remember several songs from when I was younger and in the Girl Scouts. One that sticks out in my memory the most is entitled "Make New Friends." It goes

Make new friends, but keep the old

One is silver and the other's gold.

A circle's round, it has no end

That's how long I want to be your friend.

I remember learning this song in the second grade, just after I had joined Brownie Troop 3278 in San Diego, California. This song made me feel like I belonged, like I was wanted and that I had been accepted by the other girls as one of them.

That song taught me the value of friendship, that as long as we have our friends we can accomplish anything and we will always have our friends, and that other friends can never and will never replace the ones that we already have. I have kept that as one of my ways of thinking over the years. I have always been open to meeting new people and making new friends. And every new person that I meet can never replace any of the long-standing friends that I have. There are so many stories I could tell from all of the experiences that I have had from all of my friends. A friend of mine from high school, Dixie, was one of the thuggish, `I'm not going to take nothing from nobody,' type of people. As far as I can tell, I was the only one she let mess with her. Maybe that was because I carried a long metal stick with me for half of the school year… but I digress. When we email each other now or talk to each other on the phone, she always asks "Who ever thought a thug would turn out so good" and it has become a kind of joke between us as we discuss how life has treated us.

I have several other friends like this from high school and many like that here at Notre Dame. It has been joked, "Who don't you know on campus?" Of all of the people I know, I have a core set of people who I consider to be my close friends. You all know who you are – helping me out when my life and world fell apart, shattered, helping me to piece the broken fragments of my life.

But then, after all I have ever believed, I have found people – whom I thought were my friends – turn and step away from me when I needed the extra support. How can this be? This isn't in my model for how friendship works. Is there a limit to the friendship that can exist between two people? If something comes between them, can it not be worked out, discussed with some attempt to remain cordial? Why should a disagreement keep friends apart?

True friends, are people who are there to support you when things go wrong or when you are challenged. It doesn't mean that they have to agree with you, but it means that differences of opinion are there to foster understanding and better friendship. Friendship means as much to me as my life does. I put my heart and soul into it. I would hate to see that thrown away because of a difference of opinion or a misunderstanding.

• A Friendship Lost