I think I\u2019ve mentioned before that a while back Kelly gave me a book full of questions about my life. I was supposed to answer them and give the book back to her. Being a good father, I did just that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the questions was \u201cDad, who were your best friends growing up and why?\u201d I responded to that question basically by telling her that over the years, I\u2019ve had different friends for the different phases of my life. I had childhood friends, grade-school friends, high school friends, work friends, social friends, parents of my kids friends, friends, retirement friends, etc. I\u2019m not sure that was the answer she expected, but that\u2019s the way I\u2019d have to list my friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, that got me to thinking about friendship \u2014 what makes a good friendship? I\u2019ve heard it said that old friends are the best friends \u2014 that might be true, but I think I\u2019ve got a lot of \u201cnew\u201d good friends\u2026 I\u2019m not sure how you judge how one friendship is better than another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have a friend that is big on reunions \u2014 he never fails to tell me about a reunion being held by our previous employer. I\u2019m also a member of a couple of social groups made up of retirees from the company I retired from. I\u2019ve been to a number of these \u201creunions,\u201d and in the rooms full of people, I could reminisce with most all of them, but to be honest I invariably enjoy seeing and talking to maybe only four or five in each group. The ones that I liked talking to the most were the ones that talked the least about \u201cold-times.\u201d We talked about current events and what each of us had been doing lately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m sure Claire would agree with me when I say that I meet at least as many people that I dislike as people that I do like. Maybe dislike isn\u2019t the right word, but they\u2019re people I wouldn\u2019t necessarily like to be friends with. I\u2019m not sure why I make friends with some people and not with others. Sometimes there\u2019s just something hard to define that distances me from people.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There seems to be some sort of connection people have that matches up with some people, but not others. There\u2019s something that goes on between friends that doesn\u2019t happen between \u201cacquaintances.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A lot of people use the term \u201cgood friend\u201d even when they hardly know the person \u2014 i know someone that does that, and I\u2019m pretty sure politicians use \u201cgood friend\u201d whenever it\u2019s to their advantage even if they\u2019ve never met the person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t know that it\u2019s necessarily the amount of time you spend with a person that creates or strengthens a friendship. A lot of people that I worked very closely with over the years, I really don\u2019t know at all and some people that I only see or hear from every few years I consider good friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I guess to have a good friend, you need to be a good friend \u2014 maybe a lot of those people that I\u2019ve met over the years that I don\u2019t consider \u201cfriends,\u201d would have been if I\u2019d made more of an effort.
Someone once said that instead of loving our enemies, we should try treating our friends a little better.
\u2014 30 \u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I think I\u2019ve mentioned before that a while back Kelly gave me a book full of questions about my life. I was supposed to answer them and give the book back to her. Being a good father, I did just … Continue reading