“Pooh,” said Piglet softly, “how do you know if someone is really your friend?”

Pooh thought for a long while, because these sorts of questions required the very best kind of thinking. Finally, he said, “You know, Piglet, because they’re still there. They stay on rainy days and sunny ones, on days when you feel small and on days when you feel braver. A true friend is someone who doesn’t count the minutes or the miles, but simply stays.”

Piglet felt quite comforted by this, because being small sometimes made him worry he might be forgotten. “So,” he said, “it doesn’t matter if you’re the first to arrive, as long as you never go away?”

“That’s it,” Pooh replied, nodding wisely. “Friendship isn’t about who came first, or who knew you the longest. It’s about who comes and never leaves. And that makes even the smallest heart feel very big.”

And Piglet sat a little closer on the log, and Pooh smiled his thoughtful smile, and the Hundred Acre Wood felt very safe indeed—because some friendships, once found, are forever.