Friendship

OK, second posting. I must first of all say that although this is called "Grandad's" Thoughts...... I am not a Grandad. I may well become one in the future, but that is for others to decide and when. I called this blog "Grandads" Thoughts.... as it was a nickname given to me by a younger colleague at work a few years ago. It seemed to stick, not as a detrimental meaning but as a term of friendship and fun. I no longer work there or anywhere else for that matter, as I chose to retire early, for various reasons which need not be expanded upon here. Suffice to say I worked with some great people, made numerous friends and had some good times as well, which leads me on to a thought.....

Regarding friends, it seems that the younger ones among us believe that they each have a lot of friends. Well, that may be true for some, but others think so because of this social networking era. There is Face-book, Twitter, on-line sites, etc, on which many people have many contacts. Now, let me tell you, these contacts are not all your true friends. A true friend is made over a good deal of time, sharing good and bad experiences, highs and lows, agreements and arguments, but always being ready to say things to help and give that help, rather than waiting to be asked. In my more than six decades of life I have been fortunate to make some true friends, but I can count them on the fingers of one hand. I won't name them here, they all know who they are. By the way, Kevin is one of them. So is "Great Mate" (he knows who it is!).

My definition of a true friend? Well, when the soft stuff hits the fan and you are up to your neck in it, a true friend is seen walking towards you with a damn great shovel in his hand.

To be continued........