The Important Stuff In Life

There are a lot of things that are important in ones life. Health, money and a good dog are just a few that come to my mind.
One of the most important, at least to me, are friends. We all have our acquaintances..... "Knowledge of a person acquired by a relationship less intimate than friendship".
I have plenty of these myself. But I am talking about those people who hold a much higher place in my life...real friends.
Now I don't have a lot of "real" friends but those that I do have, have a special place in my life and....not trying to get all sappy or girly girl....but they have a special place in my heart too.
The absolute first that comes to my mind would be my wife Veronica. The way I look at it...if your wife isn't your best friend, eventually it will kick you in the fanny. She is my bestest of best friends and yes of course it comes with benefits...lol. What an arrangement eh?
After Veronica, the friendship list dwindles down to just a few. There used to be a time when I had more friends in my life. But they seemed to have ended up being friends for just a particular time in my life or when I held a certain job.
After moving on, I tried to keep those friendships alive but time and distance eroded those friendships into nothing more than memories...not even acquaintances...just distant memories of friendships that once were.
2 people that I do consider to be my friends are John and Ken. You have heard me mention both names here on my blog before.
They are the two friends from up in Canada that send me video clips and jokes, that I turn around and share with you.
But Ken and John are much more that just people who send emails to me.
John and Ken are both friends that I truly wished that I lived closer to, so that I could spend more time with them.
They are 2 people that I feel a connection to and truly enjoy their company.
And even though I might physically see them for only a week or two each year, I still consider them to be my friends. I am hoping that one of these days, I might be able to live a little closer to them so that we might be able to see a little more of each other.
But for now, I am thankful that they are my friends and I am thankful for whatever time or contact we get with each other.
I also have another person that I consider to be my friend. His name is Barry. I have never formally met Barry but I still think of him as my friend.
Barry is a fellow blogger and that is how I "met" him.
I care about Barry as much as I care about any of my other friends.
Barry has been going through some tough times with his health.
I find myself thinking about Barry and saying a prayer or two for him.
I know that this might sound silly since I have never actually met Barry, but he is one of those people in this world that I have found a connection with....through his blog, his writings and what he has shared with others about his health issues and about other topics.
Like I said earlier, I really don't have very many "real" friends but each one of them is very important to me.
Today I met my neighbor. His name is Bill.
Bill and his family own the condo next door to us. They come and stay in their condo for a week here and there and the rest of the time, they try to rent it out when they aren't here visiting.
Bill has been here for about a week.
I would see him out in the driveway working on his boat. I would say "hi" when I walked by him but until today, we never really introduced each other.
Today we did introduce each other and we stood around talking for a bit.
Bill is one of those people that I felt an instant connection to.
Unfortunately our first real meeting was only a couple of hours before he and his family had to leave.
Before Bill left, I gave him a slip of paper with our names and telephone number on it along with my email address. He in turn gave me one of his business cards and he wrote his cell phone number on it. With the weather and storms in this area, I thought that he might want to have a contact person just in case something happened to his place and a way that I could get in touch with him should the need arise.
Bill seemed to genuinely appreciate my gesture.
Before Bill left, he made sure that he had a chance to say good bye to me. I found myself wishing that I had met Bill earlier in his visit. I think that with a little time, Bill will be on my short list of friends.
For those of you that are already on it.....Thank You!!.