Friends

Friends. What do they mean to us?

Age five. What is a friend at the age of five? That one person who shares their cookie with you and gives you the green crayon, I guess. Friendship at the age of a toddler works on a give and take basis. It’s a barter system of material things and perhaps a few deeper elements such as time or loyalty.

Age fourteen. That one person you giggle with, get into trouble with and fight with. The one person that you can tease without consequences . Friendship at the age of fourteen is about trust, loyalty, love, jealousy, hate and passion. Adolescence is like clay. It’s that part of life that is the beginning of the process of the shaping of the person that we eventually become.

Age Thirty. The beer buddy. The college roommate that stuck with you throughout college stupidness and proved himself to be your friend. Reminiscence, regret, and realization of failure or success become a part of friendships. A longing for all that is past and an apprehension of the future, all the while, knowing that some things will never change. Like the fool sitting next to you half passed out at the bar, but your bond him growing stronger by the day.

Age Sixty. Life is finished and done with. An analysis of it must be done. And for that you have your little fishing trips with those people you call friends. People connected by a rope of loneliness that brings them together to share in the final joys of life.

What are friends, but passing ships that happen to be sailing in the same waters, and drifting along in the same direction as you.