Friday Five: Friends

From RevGalBlogPals:
Ever since I found out I could be the hostess for the third Friday Five of each month, I have not been able to get the thought of friends out of my mind. Being an only child (all growed up) who moved around a lot in my lifetime, friends have always been very important to me. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote: "The way to have a friend is to be a friend."

So today let's write about the different kinds of friends we have, like childhood friends, lost friends, tennis friends, work friends, and the list goes on. List 5 different types of friends you have had in your life and what they were/are like.

1. Eating friends: From high school in Bellingham, WA, I have two friends who have always been eating friends. Both Jennifer and Terry live in Seattle, and we love to go out together and eat, especially desserts. In high school I remember going with Jennifer to have pie at a now-defunct hotel. Of course, talking goes along with the eating. . . . and sharing recipes.

2. Singing friend: In 4th and 5th grades in California, I had a friend I sang with on the telephone. My patient mother never told me to stop, so picture me singing on the black telephone after school on various afternoons. This friend is lost to me; both our fathers were in the Marine Corps so in successive moves we lost touch with each other.

And now I don't think I can sing. A few times in the past my husband would ask me NOT to sing in church!

3. Walking friend: Almost every Saturday morning at 7 am, DH and I walk at the mall. She is a teacher, and we rarely talk on the phone or see each other any other times. For over 12 years, we have been meeting and walking. We are also spiritual friends and 12-Step friends (which is where we first met).

4. Telephone friend: I am not one to call people on the phone and chat; in fact, I am known for not calling people. But when my friend JT moved from Corpus Christi to Fort Worth about ten years ago, we started calling each other each week to talk for an hour. Sometimes we travel or miss a week or two, but we always get back to this routine. It is oddly synchronistic that we go through many of the same spiritual or emotional struggles at the same time.

5. Co-dependent friend: When I was going to Al-Anon and therapy regularly in the mid-1990's, while I was suffering with depression and anxiety, I had a friend who was very supportive. I even called her, and she would encourage me. LW called and helped me for several years, but as soon as I grew less needy, she stopped contacting me. We were friends for a season. Now I never even see her around, as she lives on the other side of town.

Bonus: My newest blogging friend is Nancy, who is also the friend of longest time. She and I met in junior high when we both lived on a the Naval Base in Yokosuka, Japan. We corresponded faithfully with written letters until the advent of computers and email. We were both in each other's weddings and both became La Leche League leaders. She has a new blog called Nancy's Garden, in which she posts pictures of plants.