Answer #6- Be A Friend

I don't know how much more I can say on this topic because it is so obvious. Being a friend sounds more true than 'having friends', which sounds more acquisitive and passive rather than pro-active. It's not always easy. People are complicated and annoying and unpredictable and full of weird quirks and messy problems and irritating habits. Or am I just talking about me? Probably. Even as a high-functioning introvert who needs her alone time, dammit, I still need my friends near and far. And more so as I get older. I treasure the ones I have nurtured and kept, even those I lost touch with and rediscovered. Thank you e-mail and Facebook.
  Even if you despair of humankind or just hate people in general, you still need friends. Probably more so. True friendship usually surprises you or sneaks up on you, and when you look back you can't even remember the moment you first met because it seems you've always known each other.
Here is a rogues' gallery of some of my friends. If I left someone out they either hate having their photo taken (Lynda!) or I haven't seen them in awhile and don't have a recent photo (Jan, Irene). Or I have never actually met them in person (Judy). Or, like at an Academy Awards thank you speech I am so flustered I left out someone (who might never speak to me again). I hope not.

 In order:
Kathy (2004)
Julie (2000)
Danny (1978)
Donna (1967)  (Where are you, Donna? I have Googled you everywhere.)
Luke (1973)
Jeri and Toni (2010)
Lyn and Donniece (2010)
Deb (2011)
Suzanne and Galina (2003)
Kate (2011)

J

And that's not even counting my Facebook friends, my book club friends, my quilting friends, my artist friends, my dancer friends, my Yoga friends and my former students. Wow. How lucky I am.