Friends

A friend told me this is national Friend's Day. I thanked her because she is a "Say-Hi" friend where we know each other's names but I wouldn't drive her to the airport nor would she drive me. But her casual mention of Friend's Day started me thinking about friends.

In almost ten decades I have acquired a lot of friends (and lost a few). A major engine of friend acquisition is shared circumstance: school, church, jobs, armed forces,  But next to family, your reservoir of friendships is what flavors the quality of your life.  It's a complex interaction of ever changing temperatures that adds the spice to social intercourse. 

 Words matter; spoken and unspoken. They are the binding mortar of friendship that can cut as well as mend.  My oldest friend is Darryl Pollock. He can run faster than me but I'm better looking. Who is smarter has yet to be resolved.  We met in high school and agreed on things that made us laugh as well as the importance of playing football.  We've outlived most of our classmates but it draws us closer to the other survivors.

Darryl lives in a nice neighborhood in Bend, Oregon and a daily ritual is to sit in his garage with the door up and give a wave to anybody who happens to be walking or driving pass his home.  He thinks of them as drive-by friends and Darryl has lots of them.

Friends deserve more than one day a year.  Like Mother's Day and Father's Day it should be every day.  So, on this Friend's Day,  choose some words carefully, and send them to a friend.