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ORIGINAL: ShaharThorne

Did not get your request (I use my real name on FB) but you make me laugh to the point of tears...or it could be the pain I am in...LOL!

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ORIGINAL: tiggerspoohbear

I haven't seen that post yet. So it's gonna be 51. But then you know you could call me in the middle of the night, and if you needed me there, I'd be there no matter the distance.

I don't have many good friends left either. I prefer to think I've gotten choosy. I think as we mature, we go back to our childhood friendships for the most part. It doesnt matter how long you've been apart, you just pick up where you left off. It's like no time has passed. We tend to be more leery of the friends we make as adults, I know I do. We want to meet people who get us, who share our interests, who won't take advantage of us.

You know we're both givers with great big hearts. People take advantage of that very easily. You and a very few others are ones I know I can trust with anything. You make me laugh, you really listen to me, you cheer me up, by the same token, I make you laugh, I listen, I offer the best advice I can, I cheer you up. We're a good match as friends, because as MM puts it, "I'm scared of the two of you together, it'd be two giggle monsters who'd talk the entire time and not always make sense AND not care about it." He's right, but we don't care, cuz we're us. And us is good.

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ORIGINAL: LadyPact

How do I define it?

I don't have the exact formula. I know I'm pretty lucky in the "friend" department. While they might be few, I know there are people on this spinning globe that would do damn near anything for Me. In this, I've been exceptionally fortunate.

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ORIGINAL: Blonderfluff
I defined "friend" as someone I would call in the middle of the night, and fully expect them to pick up the phone. Someone that knows me, all of me, and may not LIKE all of me, but LOVES me anyway. And for these 4, I would do the same. 

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ORIGINAL: angelikaJ

First, I suck as a facebook friend:
I rarely update and frequently miss notifications or just am in an energy reserving mode and purposely don't pay attention.

Quantity matters little to me.


Most of my actual fb friends are people I knew back when I was a res-hab training specialist.
It is so good to know that 13 years later I am thought of with love and fondness.

Some are people I met here, and I value their friendships greatly.


My youngest niece (16) invites and then disinvites me with great frequency.

One person is someone I have known since I was 12.

Many are HS classmates and I rarely talk to them.

But I don't have many friends that I could call at 3am.
For more than 10yrs, that person was Elizabeth.
Our paths crossed in 1996.
We were staying in the same residential-type motel and just hit it off.

And were fast friends until she died from complications related to Hep-C, acquired via a blood transfusion she received during emergency joint replacement surgery.
She had MS and one of the treatments had a rare side effect of avascular necrosis to joints.
She developed it in 2 hips and a shoulder.
The first day we met she explained she was "terminal" but not to be sad.

This isn't what you were looking for, and I didn't post this as some kind of downer.
Having known her fills me with great joy, and instead of being sad, I reflect on how lucky I was to have found an anam cara.

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Nothing wrong with recognizing a friendship hierarchy of circles.

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ORIGINAL: Blonderfluff

Today I posted a status on FaceBook about a recent positive development in my life. I really only use that medium to stay in touch with a family that is all over the place. I used to use it to spy on my kids, but they hardly use it anymore. They claim it's been " ruined by the old people". Shoot. I digress.

After I posted my status I was shocked at the number of people that "liked" and left comments. It was over 50. I don't have 50 friends.
Now. I KNOW all of of these people. Some I knew very well at one point or another in my life. And that lead me to some introspection.

How many friends do I really have??? I was ruthless in my examination, and came to the number 4. I have 4 friends. I am 2/3's of the way through my life, and I have only 4 friends.

I defined "friend" as someone I would call in the middle of the night, and fully expect them to pick up the phone. Someone that knows me, all of me, and may not LIKE all of me, but LOVES me anyway. And for these 4, I would do the same.

I wonder if I have gotten lazy. I used to have lots of friends. GOOD friends. I looked at that FB list, and many of them were on there. Did I just at some point decide NOT to nurture that friendship ? I honestly don't know.

As I head into last part of my life, I am beginning to wonder...do we lose that desire to make new friends? Is it because I am choosier about who gets my attention and time? Or is it that I am just losing a bit of that joy and excitement in life that makes new friends so much fun.

How do you define friendship?