about friends

I read once that a person can generally count the number of their true friends on one hand.  All the rest are acquaintances.  People pass in and out of our lives constantly but there are a few people we latch on to that stay with us for the journey.  My first friend was, and is, my sister Susan.  I've always known her ( I'm one year older) and I can't think of a time when I haven't been able to talk over life's barrage of silly stuff with her.  We don't judge each other.  We do respect each other.  And when need be, we hold each other up.  Linda is my Beatle friend.  We met one day while walking home from  high school during the dead of a Minnesota winter.  We started talking about our favorite singing group and have kept that conversation (and a lot of others) going for over fifty years now.  Each time we see each other we just pick up the conversation right where we left off.  Tricia and I met through our sons who became best buddies in grade school.  Our common link was raising kids.  The kids grew up just fine and then we faced the fact that we were aging.  Well, there's not much one can do about that!! We helped each other through some very sad times.  We've had some good laughs along the way, too.  That's the way it has been for us during the last thirty five years.  Anyway,  these three ladies are my top three picks for true friends.  I have plenty of acquaintances to hang out with but Susan, Linda and Tricia have true friend status in my heart.