How Much Is Friendship Worth? -- Invitation to Write #71

For Writers:

My closest friends go back 20 years, to our high school and college years. Of course we now live thousands of miles apart, and we hardly ever keep in touch. A lot of that’s my fault. Even when I live in the same town as my friends, I don’t do a very good job keeping in touch.

Being married only complicates friendships. You want your spouse to like and approve of your friends, but there’s something possessive about friendships, too. That is, I don’t want my wife to like my friends too much. They are, after all, MINE.

But as I say, the dynamics change, and friends are no longer yours and yours alone. Couples tend to befriend other couples, and then when couples have children, they befriend other couples with children. For married couples with children, it’s almost impossible to keep friends that are single and childless.

How many close friends do you have? Is it worth the effort to keep them? Why?

“True friendship consists not in the multitude of friends, but in their worth and value.” – Ben Jonson

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