How many friends can you really claim? I'm not talking about acqauntainces. I'm talking about real, honest-to-goodness friends. So how many can you really claim? I can't claim too many myself. But I am surprised at just how many friends I do have.
Not too long ago, I reconnected with a friend from college. We connected on Facebook. I hadn't talked to this friend for something close to eighteen years. We connected on Facebook and then talked on the phone for a while. It felt like the years melted away. That's part of how I define a friend. This isn't the first time that I have reconnected with old friends after a long time. I don't think that I would recognize most of the people I knew in high school. I considered many people "friends" in high school, but I don't keep in touch with them and I honestly don't want to. I have one friend, my best friend for a long time, that I still keep in touch with from high school. He has been there for me through good and bad times. That is another way I define friend. Then there is my wife. She has been my best friend for many years now. That is the best friendship that I can think of. I know that years down the road, when romance has cooled, that I will still be married to my best friend. We have grown together and changed together over the years. There are folks that I have known over the years that I have grown apart from. That usually makes for a limited, or an end to, friendship. So I guess another way I define friendship is being able to grow with, not without, the other person. I think one last component that is important for a friendship is being happy for the other person. I am excited when my friends do well. I try to find opportunities to help friends with a listening ear, a kind word, or a push in the right direction when needed. Of course, I get the same in return from my friends. So I ask you to take stock of your "friends." How many friends do you really have? What would you do for your friends? How can you be a better friend? These are all questions that I am working through myself as well.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Want to get new blog posts by email? Sign up below.
AuthorRyan Myers writes a variety of fiction. He plays the field from mystery to literary fiction to fantasy. He is also working on a memoir. Archives
April 2020
|