What is a Friend

Recently, while transferring information from a forty year old birthday book into a new one, I realized how many of my friends have passed away over the past few years. It made me think of the word friend, and a couple of definitions I found in a dictionary were: a person attached to another by feelings of personal regard; a person who gives assistance; a patron, supporter; a person who is on good terms with another; a member of the same nation, party, etc.

I have been so blessed with friends and acquaintances who have played such important parts in my life. I remember friends from school, but am still in touch with only one of them. Having moved many times in my life, I have had to make new friends wherever I went. Again, some of them have remained friends ever since, while with others, we have drifted apart, only to receive the annual Christmas card with the update (which I eagerly enjoy). But I know that every friend, especially those I have had a close relationship with, and every acquaintance has made some difference in my experience. Some of my friends were neighbors, some were members of organizations I belonged to, and many I have become friends through my church activities.

When I married and moved out of my home state, to the area I would live in for the next twenty-five years, I was received into a lovely group of friends of my husband's, and always felt included in everything they did. Many of the friends in that group are still very dear friends, but sadly some of them have, like my dear husband, passed away. When we moved to California in 1980, friends of my family, who lived there, welcomed us into their groups and activities, making the adjustment more easy for me, and again, many of them are still very dear friends.

I have been blessed with an ability to make friends rather easily, which has helped many times to make the moves much more doable. I can honestly say that in the seven years (this October) that I have lived in my present community, that I have not felt a sense of homesickness. I was once asked how I liked it here, and my reply was that I love it! I have never been called "honey" and "darlin'" so much in my life, but I have never met more friendly people than I have here and am so grateful for the opportunity to see these new friendships and acquaintances grow into something more lasting and endearing.

If you are reading this blog, then you are at least an acquaintance, but I hope you are more of a friend. And I hope that I have been a person that you are pleased to call friend. I hope, that in some way, I am sharing, at least, one of the above definitions with you. And I do hope that you know how much your friendship and/or acquaintance means to me. Hugs and love.