A Friends Friday Five

A new F.F. hostess for Rev Gals, Jan, has been thinking about friends. She says, " 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.

Only five...that is difficult.

1. I will start with a few childhood friends. There were my neighbors Pat and Kathy, two beautiful Hispanic girls who were my best "neighborhood" girlriends for about 7 years. Their mother gave me the first quesadilla I ever ate (with her homemade tortillas!). I was hooked, so my mother started making them too, and now they are a family favorite of more than one generation. My best friend, however, was George. We played lots of imaginative games, some times with improvised costumes--cops and robbers, pirates, cowboys and Indians, Robin Hood and Maid Marian and many more. George was the one friend of my childhood who never, not once, took advantage of the nearly-blind-and-wearing-braces me. For that and many other things, I loved him. I still wonder about him. He was a very sweet boy who had what I now realize was an abusive mother.

2. High School friends. We never forget those, do we? The two who were my closest friends were Pat and Loretta. Pat was so skinny she looked like Olive Oyl. Her boyfriend was Ken's best buddy. They introduced Ken and me--and the rest is history! The other was Loretta, a beautiful Native American who I loved like a sister. I wish I knew where she is now. There is a certain song of 1968 vintage (You Were On My Mind by the We Five--one hit wonders) that never fails to make me think of her with love and appreciation.

3. Family Friends. Some family are not friends, try as one may. At least that has been my experience. Then there are those that are family AND friends--who are trustworthy and loyal and loving. And then, of course there are the family friends by which is meant FRIEND OF THE FAMILY. Oh boy, those can be strange. And then there are those friends who are just as close as if they were part of the family. Sisters and brothers, parents, children, who have no genetic connection but claim a part of one's heart. God has blessed me with some of these, who will be part of my forever family. If you are one of those, I have told you! :-)

4. Cyber friends. I would have thought it impossible, but there are several friends I have never met who are very dear to me. Those include Dr. and Mrs. Platypus, Teri, Maureen, Jeannie, and several more. There are a few who I have had the joy of meeting face to face: Ruth, Bronwen, Sharon, Cheesehead in Paradise, Psalmist, Mary Beth (all too briefly). Many of my cyber buds called, emailed or messaged me to share support and prayer during Ken's hospital stay. How wonderful to have friends in England, Australia, Ireland...and yes, they are REAL friends.

5. Church friends. Some of the people who have at one time or another shared a pew with me, or listened to me preach, are a great blessing. Of course, we all know there are some who are anything but--ha--but I have been blessed by knowing some truly wonderful fellow-believers. Some were part of church in my childhood but they are still dear to me. My beloved Pastor Stanley Polk, deacons who served with my father and loved my sisters and me, Sunday School teachers, professors....many more. Just in the last month one mowed our lawn, one sold something and gave us the profit, some gave flowers and a card that brought tears to Ken's eyes, one put gas in my empty tank, another gave me a gift certificate to the grocery store. Another cut my hair. One cried with me. One hugged me till I could hardly breathe...lol....and several have shared prayer with and for me. What a blessing that is! Especially that.

Gotta have friends!