CityView Magazine

22 | October 2020 F iguring out what it is that makes up the footprints of friendship seems most oen quite ambiguous. Similar personalities? Not really. Common backgrounds? Not always. Good looks? Oh, come on. Our friends love us through extra pounds, wrinkles, perpetual bad hair days, tear-stained faces. Is it a shared set of political beliefs? As the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her dear friend, the late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia demonstrated, also no. Quite oen, as Rocky Balboa famously said, together we fill gaps. Our friends fill gaps in our lives that perhaps we didn't even know were there. True friends show their loyalty even during the times when it would be much easier to turn away. ey are the people who cheer us on passionately, even when they could really care less about the game itself. ey are the people who sing our praises, even when they don't know all the words to the song. Fayetteville is unique in all the ways it offers diversity, variety and pleasant surprises when it comes to the bonds of friendship. For those of us who live here, our next best friend might be someone who was born here, went to high school here. Or it could be someone whose career path landed them and their family right around the corner. Or, because Fayetteville is nestled next door to one of the world's largest military installations, our next best friend may be, at this very moment, stationed halfway around the world – just waiting for the opportunity that will bring them here to us, ready to leave lasting footprints on our hearts. Faces of Friendship BY KIM HAST Y PHOTOGRAPHY BY CINDY BURNHAM fascinating fayetteville Faces of Friendship

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