Best Friends

Like millions of others I’m participating in Social Networking.

My question is this:  has it made us any more friendly?
It’s easy and sometimes there’s meaningful and even important info in the News Feed, but I don’t know if I’m a better friend for the time and effort I’ve put into Facebook.

I came across this picture of my grandson Ethan and his school friends in my Photo Library and it made me think about all the joys of friendship.

I went all through school with the same group of kids.
Some of them are in my earliest memories.  We walked to school and home together.
We ran from dogs, we climbed trees, we had sleepovers, and swam all summer long until Fall when we started walking to school together again.
Over time we all moved on, or away, or apart.

My Dad had a lifelong friendship with a guy named. . .wait for it, Bud.
Bill & Bud went to school together, then off to war together,  having survived that harrowing experience, my Dad in the Pacific and Bud in Europe, they came home, found girls, and acted as each other’s Best Man.  They each had 3 kids and each spent their lives married to just one woman.  They enjoyed a continuity and a depth of friendship that only grows via time and shared experience.  My Dad and Bud were loyal friends until Bud passed away.  My Mom and Dad continued to visit Carol, Bud’s widow, until my Dad also passed away.  Now my Mom visits Carol on her own.

I’m determined to be a better friend and to cultivate the friendships I have.
I want to keep adding layers of experience with each one and allow them a bigger piece of my heart, share of my time, and place in my life.

People, people who need people
Are the luckiest people in the world.
Bob Merrill, People