Five Friends

Jan at RevGalsBlogPals wrote "Ever since I found out I could be the hostess for the third Friday Five of each month, I have not been able to get the thought of friends out of my mind. Being an only child (all growed up) who moved around a lot in my lifetime, friends have always been very important to me. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote: "The way to have a friend is to be a friend."

So today let's write about the different kinds of friends we have, like childhood friends, lost friends, tennis friends, work friends, and the list goes on. List 5 different types of friends you have had in your life and what they were/are like."

So for today's post, I am writing about the 5 different types of friends in my life.

Friend Type #1 - The Childhood Friend - I really do not have any childhood friends that I am still in contact with, but I must say that my friends in my childhood were very important to me. I was the baby of the family - by a long shot - and the friends I had then were like siblings to me. I was a tomboy so, when I was younger my friends tended to be boys. I liked playing G.I. Joes and getting muddy in the creek by our house. I did have girlfriends as I got older, but many of them turned out to be 'fair-weather' friends. I still tend to have more male friends than female friends.

Friend Type #2 - High School Friends - I do have a few of these friends with which I am keeping contact. My friends in high school tended to be those with whom I worked through the angst of adolescence - for better or worse. We got into our fair share of trouble, and those things no one found out about. We probably keep up with each other to make sure we keep our mouths shut! Even if we don't talk much anymore, some of my best memories come from the friends I ran with in high school.

Friend Type #3 - Job's Friends - We all have friends who are not the most helpful. These friends seem to be more toxic than helpful. But even these friends have a purpose and place. Quite often these friends can help us shore up our self-understanding. By explaining or defending our self, we can define who we are, as Job did. They can also have the opposite effect of tearing down your confidence if allowed.

Friend Type #4 - Family Friends - My family are my friends; my sister and niece, my children, my husband - I consider them friends. As my daughters become adult young women, our relationship has adapted for this transition. I think we have handled this well, and I am proud of our relationship. My sister and niece are close friends, and I enjoy getting together with them to do things. Although we don't live close anymore, the internet and telephone make the miles disappear. My husband began as my friend, and we have maintained that close friendship in our marriage. In our family, sometimes saying "I like you" can mean as much or more as "I love you."


Friend Type #5 - Proverbs 18:24 Friends - Those who are as close or closer than a sibling. I have friends that are friends in the good and the really bad. You know those times when you need chicken soup, or Imodium. Those who are there and you can relate in ways no one else can. Those you may not see very often, but when you are together you can pick back up where you left off like there was no time in between. Friends that are your surrogate family and love you just as unconditionally.

These are five of the types of friends I have had in my life. I am now entering into a new type of relationship with those who I meet in our blogging. Some I know personally, and some I only know through meeting them in their writings in their blog. I cherish these new friendships as well.