The Age of Friendship

What characteristics define friendship? Are there any set rules to being friends? True friends can come in any size, shape, color, or gender, but what about age? Most people who consider themselves to be close friends are usually within a few years of each other. These people might find they have more in common than they would with someone several years older or younger than themselves. This doesn't have to be the case.

For those of us in our thirties, meeting new friends can be somewhat daunting. We look back at our twenties and feel our youth slipping away. We look ahead and see ourselves wishing for the dreams we once held with enthusiasm. It becomes a cliché of being between a rock and a hard place. Yet, this is the best place to be if you're looking to expand your line of friends.

Becoming friends with people in their twenties can help us retain the vitality we used to take for granted. We are now the ones with the experiences that can help bring someone else to a better place in their lives. We can give the younger generation advise in areas we once thought we'd never live through and revel in the knowledge that we were the ones that someone else has turned to.

Becoming friends with someone older than ourselves can help us cope with the idea of growing old. Living in a society that makes aging seem like a bad thing, these people can give us the ability to go on with hope. They have remarkable stories of life that only those who have lived it can tell. They know about things that we have yet to encounter and how to deal with them.

A true friend can come in any size, shape, color, or gender. They can also come in any age, whether older or younger than yourself. Allowing yourself to broaden your friendly horizons can bring great joy into your life as well as that of someone else. There may be a day when you just need someone to sit by your side and listen to your story and all the usual people are tired of hearing about it. Not because they don't care, but because they just don't know what to do to help. Widening the range of your friends' age group may be the only way for you to find that one person who knows the answer.