"Remember Your Friends"
By Capt. Fred Davis
Published: Friday, April 13, 2012








Think about your friends. Who are they? Some people think of everyone they know as a friend while others believe a friend is only a friend if that person will help them out. Who are your real friends? Not everyone can be a real friend. Some friends who are just acquaintances are still enjoyable to be around. They can help you appreciate what there is between you and know it is just that.

I think a friend is one who keeps in contact with you, calls to say Hi, how are you even if you haven’t called them. To me, a friend is concerned about your health and well being. A friend is someone you feel you could trust with your life and one you would do anything possible to help if they needed it.

My wife and I are very grateful to have many real friends. Friends we can count on if we need them and who know they can count on us. Some friends would climb a mountain for us if needed and expect nothing in return except friendship.

Our real friends invite us to join in their family activities. They are the first to remember our birthdays and anniversaries and often enjoy being part of our family get-togethers. I just had a birthday and was reminded of how many real friends I have.

A couple of very exceptional, real friends sent me my first birthday card early because they knew they would be out of state on my special day.

When these friends learned I had a health problem that laid me low for a while, a priority box, full of homemade apple cakes (made with homegrown apples), promptly arrived in the mail – now that’s something everyone doesn’t get.

Another friend who had just lost a loved one remembered my birthday with good wishes. This friend keeps in contact with my wife and me even though we don’t get to see each other often. We are all comfortable discussing our life’s highs and lows together, politics and, of course, sports.

A lunch date every summer is a must and we can chat for hours, even if we had just talked a short time before we met.

We have lots of friends we spend winters with in Florida who are real friends. We pal around often, out to lunch and dinner, rides on their boat, gather on patios to watch NASCAR. They always help celebrate my birthday and any other event that comes along. We spend our summers hundreds of miles apart but come winter, we are together and start the fun all over again.

Friends can be your friend or your partners and don’t have to be friends with both of you. They can be close by or half a world or country away. We had an old friend from Vermont send a message just to say hello and tell us she was thinking of both of us. Some old friends you don’t get to see a lot but when you encounter them the old feelings of friendship are still strong.

Family members are friends. They encourage us to be friends with their friends, which expands the circle. Our children and their spouses invite us to events all over the country and we especially love that they invite us to dinner frequently. We receive their good wishes each and every holiday and when they can, they travel long distances just to spend a little time with us. And, they often help us out when we really need it.

I hope my comments reminded you of a friend you may have lost touch with. Why not pick up the phone and give them a call or send a note to remind them you are a real friend and you care about them.

Remember, real friends are hard to come by and they are surly among the greatest treasures a person can have.

 

 

 

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