What is in that Word..."Friend"?

It is pretty obvious to everyone, that word gets thrown around freely and without regard to the real meaning. There is really no point in giving Webster's definition, you can go and look that up for yourself. In my opinion, it takes many years to define a friendship.

Some of my friends are the result of proximity, some are the result common interest, some are the result of mutual predicament and some are the result of love and attraction. Occasionally, if I am really fortunate, a friendship results from all four.

I have friends who I do not see very often, but when we are together, we pick right up as if no time has passed. I have friends that would give me the shirt off their back, lend me money or drive all night to come help me out of a bind, with out asking any question beyond, "Where exactly are you?". I read the memoir of a Vietnam veteran who said, " once you have been in the s#!+ with someone, your souls are welded together for life". Now I have never been in combat but I have been through some really tough and painful times with some guys that I did not know very well when the trouble started but I now count them as some of my most treasured relationships.

I had a guy in college ask me about friendship and why I had so many and he didn't feel like he had any. He was an only child raised by parents who were very wealthy and reclusive. His folks were also much older than most parents with children his age, and they were worried that they would die and then someone would take advantage of their son. He was very selfish, self absorbed and paranoid. I told him this.

"You will never have a friend if you are not ready to put a relationship ahead of any material possession you might have. Be generous with your time, your possessions, and your interest in what others are doing in their life. Then everything should fall into place naturally. As long as you start every relationship with an underlying fear that you will be hurt or taken advantage of, you will never have a friend."

Thanks to all of you that count yourself as one of my friends, you are my most prized possession, When all hell has broken loose, I know you have my back and stand ready to defend me. You already know the reciprocal is also true.

I have found that as we age and our parents pass away, our friends become the family that chooses us.