All My Friends

This is a post about friendship, and how it presents itself in many forms.

We are all aware of the traditional view of friendship, that special bond with someone with whom we can have heart to heart conversations, someone we depend on, someone who will tell us to smarten up and then hug us and love us no matter what, sometimes we call it a 'best friend'.

Another sort of friendship exists in a slightly larger group. You can generally recognize these type of friends because you'll see them together at different functions and settings, not necessarily often, but you'd associate them as a group of friends when you see them out together.

There's another sort of friendship that starts getting even bigger. It's called community. It can be as big as sending money and supplies to hurricane victims, donating to the Red Cross, being a member of Greenpeace, or supporting some other organization or cause... or it can be more local, taking part in helping out a family or local organization in your own home town.

Today I got to be part of that local friendship. A fellow area dentist became ill recently and was unable to practice. He is part of a group of area dentists who have agreed to cover for one another in the event of illness etc (both the dentists I work for are part of this group). This is, to me, another kind of friend. Maybe not someone you'd confide in, or someone you'd hang out with socially, but it is someone to whom a commitment has been made, and in this case, a commitment honored. The dentists I work for were willing and gracious in their commitment to their professional friend.

Peter is one of the dentists I work for and I work with Justine at Club-E. Both are personal friends, and both were part of the community of friends who helped the ill dentist by donating time in his practice to keep it going until he can get back to work. Today, I got to share in that community. And in the process of helping out today, I feel I made more friends.

I may or may not see these women from that other office again, but for today, I felt like we were friends, and I really appreciated their openness and conversation, making us feel at home there.

Get the picture? Who are your friends? It isn't really necessary to categorize them, or place their names in a hierarchal style list (is hierarchal a word?). But it is important every now and then to take a general stock of who your friends are... and even more importantly, to whom YOU ARE A FRIEND. Where do you spend your time and with whom? Where do you WANT to spend your time, and with whom? Make one answer to both those questions and I think there will be a sense of peace and purpose to your life.

To all my friends, those individuals who know my heart, those at work, those at the dances and music jams, my neighbors, nameless people I meet in the grocery store, my children and parents and siblings... to Richard... thank you all for enriching my life with your friendships,

and for letting me be a friend to all of you.

All My Friends is a reel from Jerry Holland's Collection of Fiddle Tunes.