friendship

Thoughts on Friendship

This past weekend I hosted a guy’s night where four friends and I got together, played cards, shared unfortunate humor, and had an altogether great night.  I had time to reflect today, during my 4+ hours in the car, and really feel fortunate for the friends I do have.

The four I had over consisted of three I’ve known since middle school and one that I just met a couple of years ago.  This was basically his first introduction to the other three.

Image by THEfunkyman via Flickr

Luckily I’m not Barney in this picture

It still amazes me how we can all get together, after having not seen each other for months, and pick up right where we left off.  The jokes are still there.  Faces have grown a little older, and yes hair lines may have thinned a bit, but the spirit and personalities still persist.  And the great thing is that I think the newest addition is going to fit right in as well.

Isn’t it amazing how the bonds formed in youth can many times be so much stronger than those we form as adults?  When we’re young, we share experiences so easily – the types of experiences that tie one to another even if you’re apart for years.  And as adults, many times we find ourselves in the flowing river of monotony to the point that we don’t really even know the people around us.

When was the last time you just randomly stopped by someone’s house to say hello?  Did you feel like you were intruding?  When exactly did I become too old to do that?  It must have been somewhere in my early 20’s.  Is technology to blame or is it just simply that we don’t get to know people as well as we used to?

This all goes toward one of my 2012 resolutions, to make two good friends this year.  I hope everyone out there can do the same.

Cheers

Day 2 – On Friendship and Shakespeare

Readers,

Today we’ll touch on friendship.  Amid all the great quotes out there, I believe this one speaks to exactly what I wanted to express.

The Quote

“Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch’d, unfledg’d comrade.”
– William Shakespeare

The Reflection

Without going into unneeded amounts of discourse, this quote is for my friends.  If you’re able to keep the friends you grow up with, that you experience life with, give everything you have to doing so.  The bond that you build is not easily broken.  These are the friends that you may not talk to for months, or perhaps years, but when you do finally get together you start off like you didn’t miss a step.

New friendships are important as well, as life situations change, but I wanted the focus of this to be on ones from early in life. Do not lose sight of those friendships you already have.

To my friends… Cheers!

~ The Hatter