i just got this email and thought i would pass on to ll of you here on ar


NEVER FORGET YOUR FRIENDS .....

A newlywed young man was sitting on the porch on a humid day, sipping ice tea with his Father.
As he talked about adult life, marriage, responsibilities, and obligations, the Father thoughtfully stirred the ice cubes in his glass and cast a clear, sober look on his Son.
"Never forget your friends," he advised, "they will become more important as you get older."
"Regardless of how much you love your family and the children you happen to have, you will always need friends. Remember to go out with them occasionally (if possible), but keep in contact with them somehow.
"What strange advice!" thought the young man. "I just entered the married world, I am an adult and surely my wife and the family that we will start will be everything I need to make sense of my life."
Yet, he obeyed his Father; kept in touch with his friends and annually increased their number. Over the years, he became aware that his Father knew what he was talking about.
Inasmuch as time and nature carry out their designs and mysteries on a person, friends are the bulwarks of our life.
After 70 years of life, here is what he, I and you will have learned:
Time passes.
Life goes on.
Children grow up.
Children cease to be children and become independent. And to the parents, it breaks their heart but the children are separated of the parents because they begin their own families.
Jobs / careers come and go.
Illusions, desires, attraction, sex....weakens.
People can't do what they did physically when they were young.
Parents die but you move on.
Colleagues forget the favors you did .
The race to achieve slows.

But, true friends are always there, no matter how long or how many miles away they are.
A friend is never more distant than the reach of a need, intervening in your favor, waiting for you with open arms or in some way blessing your life.
When we started this adventure called LIFE, we did not know of the incredible joys or sorrows that were ahead. We did not know how much we would need from each other. Love your parents, take care of your children, but keep a group of good friends. Stay in touch with them but do not impose your criteria.
Send this to your friends (even those you seldom see) who help make sense of your life....I just did...

Interesting post, friendship from my experiences means different things to different people. Over the years I have came to the opinion that actual friendship, are really hard to develop.

For a long time now, I have felt that true friends/friendships really are hard to develop.

I know everyone views the issue differently and that is their prerogative, my wife is friendly with everyone she meets and does have a lot of friends, but I feel personally that true friendship carries responsibilities that amount to more than just saying Hello when you meet them on the street.

To me personally, at the end of a persons life if they have half a dozen or a dozen ACTUAL friends, they have lived a good life.

As I said, it all depends on the individuals personal belief as to what defines an ACTUAL FRIEND.

If you can count on both hands the true friends that you have you are blessed.I can + I feel blessed because of it.But like anything else of value,you have to work yourself to make it happen.

Butchloc, doesn't it make you wish you had a friend? :-) Oh, I forgot the Mossberg Collectors Association!!!

CHC, agreed. There is a difference between friends and acquaintances, and some friends are better than relatives! Not saying this is bad. People grow apart, whether through geography or personal situations.
Peter.

Good comment Peter, and I know from experience. Just because someone is a blood relative, even a close one, it does not make them a friend.

One of my beliefs and it has served me quite well in my almost 68 years, to be able to make friends and like people, a person has to like themselves and be comfortable in their own skin.

As the old saying goes,You can pick your friends but not your relatives.

I always liked the one about you can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friends nose!