Friendship

Friendships can be very fragile. It's hard sometimes to keep friendships going. Something important to one...may be hard for another to deal with and feelings may be hurt. Things you may have always done...may have to be changed. Some don't deal with change very well. At an older age we become set in our ways...and precious friendships may suffer by stubbornness. Sometimes friendships hit a rough patch and they need mending. You might want to talk about the problems that you have had in the past to find new ways to overcome them in the future. Just avoiding the problems could end the friendship for good.  Two people do need to be open with each other about what is bothering them. Once you have worked on problems that you may have with one another, it is always important to be careful. While it may seem as though your friendship has been repaired, you will need to keep in mind that there is a reason that it was troubled or damaged in the first place and you will need to tread carefully. Now days we are inundated with easy ways to communicate...tweets, facebook, emails, texting...but for me the old fashioned phone call  is the best. I like to hear some one's voice at the other end, so I can hear the reaction to what I might say. It's so easy to communicate the new way, but picking up the phone takes time...time that is well spent on a friendship. I think that we are losing some of our conversation ability by these, I'll call them gadgets. We don't seem to be able to carry on a conversation like we used to. 

At my age friends are few and far between. I don't want to lose any friends...especially ones that I've had for years. Old friends are something that a lot of people just don't have and when you do you'll find that  the more you are with one another, the less you idealize each other and the more you accept one another for who you really are. This is what being a truly good friend is really about––caring deeply for each other, warts  and all.

Balisha