IMPULSE

The road to friendship is cut with a smile;
 smoothed with caring and kindness;
 worn with love
 and paved with loyalty.
It is eroded with consistent negativity.
The road can never be a one way path.
  ~Jo Heroux~

I wrote that as an introduction to how I see friendship.

Closeness we develop with our friends is different than that which we may have with family members, I believe. One big reason may be that we choose our friends and they choose us. Family is given to us and though they are often the best of our friends, they remain different by the very fact that they were not chosen. They were gifts.

Our closest friends are often people with whom we share moral values, family values and basically enjoy the same activities or hobbies or personalities. Something brought us together initially and something has kept them close through the friendship. The friends who come and go, and we all have a list of those, are not the ones I am writing of today, those are friends of purpose. Some were for our purpose, they brought something into our life that was needed or for their purpose,we gave them something; but once the purpose was served, the friendship dwindled or ended abruptly.

For those of us who tend to be stay at homes and routine oriented, an impulsive friend can be a lifeline to the real world outside our doors. At the same time, the busy bee running around here and there and never really having time to smell the roses, a calmer stay at home, plan everything friend can be a good balance. I see this and understand it. For me, my best friend of nearly 40 years is very much like me. She goes where she needs to go to get things done. She also loves being home. She totally enjoys her kids as her friends and the parents of her grand children. She also works for her daughter-in-law, yes, it is working out well.  We don't see each other a lot these days because she works and I don't. She has less time for playing with me, but we make time now and then to do something impulsive or a nice quiet afternoon on the deck here at our house.
I love either one. I love my time with her and she has always been my go to person for anything! Yes, anything. I have never told her I couldn't do something she needed or wanted and she has never not been there for me. We talk more often than we hang out these days, but the relationship is as strong as ever and I love her like family. And we chose each other when our kids were 6. The children each celebrated their 43rd birthday this year.

Before I stop, just for the record, back some 37 years ago, we did a lot of impulsive things. Most were ill-advised, but fun!  These days, we do much less impulsively and nothing ill-advised. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Jo