Donna and I talked about “friends” while walking around the block with Daisy. Friends. We are blessed with many.  Most of those reading this post.  We have new friends. Old friends. Best friends.  There are a few friends in whom we can confide everything.  Or just about everything.  Friends we see or talk to every ten years (and we pick up where we left off) and those we talk to every day.  Think about it.  You have such friends too.  We all want friends.  Need friends.  BFF’s and just “friends.”  Guys we golf with.  People we work with.  Guys I see walking to the train station (“Hey John, howyadoin’?”).  And of course there are spouses – and family – who are ever so special — usually a few notches above the BFF category.  

Friends are good for us according to studies.  Friends keep us healthy and happy.  Even add to longevity.  Friends make us smile, laugh and cry.  We cry especially when they leave us.  Yet many folks cry because they have no friends.  All too many people are sad, lonely or depressed.  That’s why our smiles and encouragement to all we meet can be so important.  As I’ve said before, the small things you do for others may mean nothing to you.  But it may mean everything to them. . . .   

I like the wry observation of Ralph Waldo Emerson that “It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.”  Donna says that I take full advantage of that saying (“Scott – would you PLEASE take the lampshade off your head. . . . “).