Friendship

Want to throw out a term much used in our society – friendship – define it and then pass along my definition of it. 

From my Webster’s: Friendship: 1. The state of being friends. 2. Attachment to being friends. Friendly feeling or attitude. 

Pretty wishy-washy. It really doesn’t describe or have meaning to what I ascribe to the word –friendship. 

We have friends. Work, social, casual, people we just meet, and those we have known forever. Any and all that come forward in our lives and add to its richness are friends.

An old saying goes: “You can’t make old friends”. So true. Another is “make new friends, but keep the old – one is silver and the other gold”. 

I have been extremely fortunate to have been able to keep at least five nonfamily-related friendships that are more than 40 years and of those five, four are more than 55 years. This, after all the moving around for the Navy, my career, and work since I left Minnesota in 1971. 

When we get together, either in person or on the phone (and new tech ZOOM), it is almost like no time has passed and we slip into conversations that just can’t be duplicated. Did we stay in touch all along the way? No, we didn’t. Life has a way of changing your priorities, taking away time for just talking with old friends. 

But all of sudden – there they are – and the conversation takes off like it was yesterday when we talked last. Certainly, we fill in the blanks, but with the history, we all know where we come from, and catching up is so easy.

Webster’s has the meaning correct – just not the feeling. Friendship is to be treasured.